The very first poem reveals Vitale’s insistence on using the correct words when she writes:

Expectant words,
fabulous as such,
promises of possible meaning, artful,
aerial,
I rate.
Ariadnas.
A slight error
makes them ornamental.
Their indescribable inexactitude
erases us.

The reader will be greatly aided by a careful reading of the introduction by Sarah Pollack. Pollack gives a great deal of information on Vitale’s approach to her poetry and gives some information about the poet and her husband that is also interesting and helpful in reading the poems.