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Moira Egan begins the poem with a reference to one of the most popular perceptions of human nature: "God, humans are creatures of habit" (1). Significantly, these words slip off the poet's tongue in the beginning, indicating the relevance that they have for her at the moment. The phrase leads us into the poem, giving a hint at what it is going to be about, although of course, such a general statement does not give away the topic of the poem at once. What does give the reader a more direct hint at the focus of the poem is that, though the poet claims she says this "to no one particular" (2), she then immediately admits saying it in part to herself and her lover ("the man that calls himself my lover," 3-4), which makes us feel that the poem is going to be centered around love and passion.
The reference to the human nature could not have appeared in the poem if there was not something in the speaker's reality that prompted it. One can easily attribute the first phrase of the poem to many different life situations, not only the love ways mainly concentrated upon in this poem. Essentially, Moira Egan demonstrates it herself: in the second stanza, she starts giving the examples of the habits she and her lover have. Egan talks about the habits common to many of us: switching the lights on even when there is no electricity and we know it ("when we hit the switch knowing there's no electricity," 5-6), and trying to wash the hands, even though there is some work done by the plumber in the basement, which requires interruption of the water flow ("turn the faucet to wash our hands anyway, plumber downstairs, no flow," 7-8). The poet draws attention to these habits in particular, and it seems that they were the ones that gave her the idea to write this poem. In other words, the absence of electricity and water flow in her house and their habits associated with it served as a catalyst for the speaker to begin contemplating on the idea of human habits in general.
