My swirling wants. Your frozen lips
-- Speaker (Line 1)

Importance: In this first line, the speaker introduces a central theme of the poem: that of desire. She wants multiple, perhaps conflicting things, which feel like they are "swirling" around her in a way both confusing and overwhelming (1). One thing she seems to want, though, is another person, the "you" addressed throughout the poem. This person, with her "frozen lips," seems to be cold and unresponsive, where the narrator is full of activity, and passion.

The grammar turned and attacked me
-- Speaker (Line 2)

Importance: This line introduces the poem's key theme of the speaker's struggle with language. She is not writing a passive text that conforms to her will. Instead, she imagines the language itself as not merely active but dangerous. It is capable of sudden movement, of shifting from being created to attacking her. This striking image establishes the relationship with language that becomes the central subject...