For the first several readings, I also thought that "nonplussed" was a bad choice. But then I tried to find another word that would fit better -- and came up with nothing that, for me, expressed the kind of confusion the N is feeling. Something extremely hurtful has happened and the N can't -- even after many years -- understand why. There is almost a desperate need for resolution. The more I read, the more I like "nonplussed" and the way it occurs just as the poem turns. And the more I like the poem.
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