On Anger

The final symbolic image of the poem is a fish, specifically one that is “gutted” but “gleam[s].” This symbol furthers the internal and external theme of loss, encapsulating it in a final, lasting image. The outside of the fish is described in terms of a precious metal: silver. There is a strong contrast between the first word of the final line, “silvery,” and the final em dash, which can be read to signal an omitted word (or a continuation of thought beyond the poem). Silver has a high worth, but after the fish is “emptied of itself,” there is a punctuation mark that signifies a word or train of thought is not worthy of inclusion in the poem. The em dash also visually can be interpreted as the mark of gutting, the knife’s slash through the fish.

This contrast in the silvery exterior and the empty interior speaks to performing for a white audience externally, and gaining value in their eyes, but feeling internally hollow, as if an intrinsic part of Blackness had been cut out.