Terrified of the undiscovered crater, the muscle that holds and pulls/and keeps and sheds.”
-- The Speaker (Jordan Convinced Me That Pads Are Disgusting)

Importance: This quote is important because it highlights the speaker’s unfamiliarity and anxiety regarding her own maturing body. This is a primary conflict that plays a fundamental role in several of the earlier poems in the collection, and influences many of the speaker’s actions as she attempts to form and understand her female identity in relationship to her body.

& what better time/than now to practice removal.”
-- The Speaker (The First Shave)

Importance: This quote is significant because it bridges the gap between the two narratives of the poem in which it appears. In order to understand what the speaker means when she says this, one must make the connection between the removal of body hair that the speaker practices in the poem and the fact that she and her friend are visiting a woman who is dying of lymphoma...