Instead, the year begins / with my knees / scraping hardwood, / another man leaving / into my throat.
-- Speaker (Vuong) (Lines 1-5)

Importance: In addition to opening “Devotion,” these lines establish the primary perspective of the poem and its temporal setting: the new year as “the year begins.” Simultaneously, these opening lines touch upon the main focus of Vuong’s poem: an almost too-close-for-comfort look at physical intimacy between two men through the vivid imagery of “another man leaving / into my throat.” In this early emphasis on physicality, Vuong also avoids overly idealizing this particular form of intimacy, acknowledging the sensorial physical pain that accompanies the intimacy (“my knees / scraping hardwood) as well as the risk of interpersonal loss that persists despite the union (“another man leaving / into my throat”).

Fresh snow / crackling on the window, / each flake a letter / from an alphabet / I’ve shut out for good. / Because the difference / between prayer & mercy / is how you...
-- Speaker (Vuong) (Lines 5-13)