You sit and watch my thoughts Go round and round: A better puppet-show You have not found Than these poor things that Dance and kick and sway Yet swift and noiselessly My inner life betray.
Imagine someone sitting back to watch your mind at work, as though it were entertainment. That's the scene Johnson sets up, speaking directly to a "you" who seems to find her thoughts better than any puppet show. The speaker's thoughts "dance and kick and sway," going "round and round," like jerky figures on strings, and she calls them "poor things," which hints at a gentle pity, or perhaps embarrassment, at how restless and helpless they are.
The sting comes in the last two lines. Those thoughts move "swift and noiselessly," slipping out without a word, yet they give away her "inner life" all the same. The speaker seems to feel exposed: she hasn't spoken, but she's being read anyway. The mood is wry and a little uneasy, a mix of dry humor and vulnerability. The poem suggests that privacy is thinner than we like to believe, and that the watcher sees more than we intend to show.