The Shadow Voice
The Shadow Voice - meaning Summary
Reliance Questioned by Shadow
The poem stages an internal dialogue between speaker and a shadow that questions dependence on others and intimacy. The shadow observes scenes—picnic tables, crumbling sandwiches, children shooting guns—and offers basic sustenance while warning the speaker to rely on their own language and resources. The voice mixes tenderness and admonition, suggesting solitude as protection and urging emotional self-sufficiency amid ambiguous, slightly unsettling everyday images.
Read Complete AnalysesMy shadow said to me: what is the matter Isn't the moon warm enough for you why do you need the blanket of another body Whose kiss is moss Around the picnic tables The bright pink hands held sandwiches crumbled by distance. Flies crawl over the sweet instant You know what is in these blankets The trees outside are bending with children shooting guns. Leave them alone. They are playing games of their own. I give water, I give clean crusts Aren't there enough words flowing in your veins to keep you going.
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