What is the central idea of Atwood's "Variations on the Word Love"?

Atwood’s poem establishes a contrast between how she and her lover relate to the word love versus how others do. The poem begins by discussing some common usages. Atwood refers to the commercialization of love by incorporating the image of a heart decorated with lace so it can be sold. She also refers to magazines whose business it is to sell subscribers versions of this word, love, and strategies for how to achieve it. Toward the end of the first stanza, Atwood’s examples become somewhat odd. She refers to actions we might not associate with love and suggests that to those doing the actions, maybe that’s what the word means (for example, the sword-wielders who end the stanza).
Atwood shifts to herself and her lover in the second half of the poem, making the explicit statement that the word love is “too short” to capture their feelings. This suggests the word itself is inadequate. Atwood continues to say that what underlies it is fear. Love makes people vulnerable, so it is a risk. She ends the poem by saying one can deal with the fear in two ways: “You can / hold on or let go.”