“I think I've always been interested in the dangers that are under the surface [of what] seems like simple, ordinary domestic life,” says Pastan. “It may seem like smooth surfaces, but there are tensions and dangers right underneath, and those are what I'm trying to get at.”

In this poem, the poet responds to someone’s question, or complaint, about the dark side she describes in her poetry. It seems most likely that the question “Why are your poems so dark?” is a complaint, since some people see poetry as something that should be beautiful, about nature, or love, and that if poetry does describe everyday life, it should not make that life seem slightly sinister.

Pastan’s response moves from big to small, from universal to particular, from poetic image to everyday sight. The moon, she points out, is also dark at least half the time. The moon is a standard poetic topic, something many poets have written about and that everyone on Earth can see. She goes on to find beauty in other dark items: writing, a familiar mole.

We all have some darkness in our skies, our lives, and our selves, says Pastan, because we can’t avoid some darkness. There are two reasons for this: first, it is a part of nature (“When God demanded light/he didn’t banish darkness”); second, it is part of human nature (“Ask the moon./Ask what it has witnessed.”). Ignoring the darkness in everyday life keeps it hidden under the surface—Pastan exposes it and acknowledges the power of darkness to balance light.

Read a biography of the poet Linda Pastan at the Poetry Foundation Web site.

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