The title sets up the whole poem: the speaker is an entertainer, but not a happy one. "See how I am forced to dance / with my cold tongue" suggests a performer who has no choice, whose speech feels stiff and detached, as if the body is going through motions the heart isn't in. The word "forced" matters. Nobody seems to be applauding here; the speaker is almost pleading to be watched.
Then the mood shifts. "Night words / are an open nest" feels softer and more private, as if words spoken in the dark are vulnerable, a place where something could be held or could fall out. The last lines undercut that comfort. "Instructions for falling" sound like a warning, and the speaker says they come "like a tic in my talk," a nervous habit that keeps slipping out. The poem leaves a mood of unease: someone performing, exposed, and half-expecting to fall.