Summary

In the first lines, the speaker declares his desire to go back to the beginning, and claims that everyone shares this desire. The "beginning" holds a false promise of no pain, leading the speaker to believe that hurt won't be there. In the following stanza, however, the speaker states that he is wrong. Even beginnings are characterized by pain.

In the second stanza of the poem, the speaker describes a place where "water / Bubbles up / At the spring" (7-9). He closes the poem by asking, "Isn't that a wound?" (10).

Analysis

As with the other short-lyric poems in Concerning the Book That Is the Body of the Beloved," hurt and loss are ever present in "I want to go back." The collection is composed of short, distinct, and sequenced poems without titles. The first line of each poem thus carries extra significance as a direct...