We’ve bled out in backwater / soil, our bodies bare as teeth.
-- Speaker (Lines 3-4)

Importance: This line uses repeating sounds to create musicality, most notably the alliterative Bs in bled, backwater, bodies, and bare. In the first phrase there are also repeating hard consonants, while the second phrase favors the softer S sounds. These auditory choices highlight the violence and contrasting vulnerability in the scene.

We’re a pack: share a / drag, shed our pain.
-- Speaker (Lines 7-8)

Importance: This is the first mention of the “pack mentality” that will ultimately bring these women together. It becomes a symbol of both strength and compliance. These women all share the same experiences, and yet they’ve so far been powerless to change them. Also notable is the use of the word “shed”, which parallels the shedding of skin common to many shapeshifter stories. In this way the women are “shedding” not only their pain but their former selves...