By Jack Joseph Smith
Original Scan
AI Interpretation
The speaker addresses a listener caught between hate and love for a soap opria queen. Images of a womb, sand, a strand, and an empty hole lead to a question about whether a kiss makes someone whole.
The speaker predicts humiliation whichever feeling comes first, then asks about contact rather than possession. Calling the woman a queen on a set places the relationship in a scene of performance. These are the speaker's hostile and uncertain views, not a description of an identified person.
'Slighted' describes 'a soap opria queen' whom 'it is better to hate', and ends 'Or is it the kiss / Not the strand / or empty hole / That makes you whole'.
The poem turns resentment toward a performer into a question about what actually completes a person.