The poem begins with a speaker who tries to say a loved one's name, Noellen, and then stops. The speaker claims that love is "the silent saying and saying of a single name," as if love lives in the name repeated inwardly, never quite spoken aloud.
Then the poem changes shape. It turns into a set of assembly instructions, like those for a paper toy or a piece of flat-pack furniture. The letters of the name become flaps, slots and edges to be folded, twisted and connected. This makes the name feel like a fragile object that has to be built with care, and it hints that saying something so precious is harder than it looks.
The last two steps surprise us. A small child says the name, and then gets a balloon. The tone softens into something playful and tender. The speaker seems to find the name's truest sound in innocence, and the mood is part longing, part gentle, quiet joy.