The whole idea of it makes me feel / like I’m coming down with something
-- Speaker (Lines 1-2)

Importance: This opening line begins the poem “in media res,” or in the midst of the action. Here, the reader is dropped into the middle of an internal conversation with the speaker. The phrase “coming down with something” is likely an idea they would have absorbed from listening to adults speak, and connected with a general feeling of undefinable unpleasantness. Without revealing anything about the speaker, these lines set up the central themes and overall tone of the poem.

You tell me it is too early to be looking back
-- Speaker (Line 8)

Importance: The second stanza opens with a turning point: the speaker talks directly to the reader. Here the reader stands in for an adult figure in the speaker’s life, and the speaker accurately predicts what their reaction to this catastrophe might be. This gives the speaker...