l supplies one detail after another as they jerk into her expectant mind. But, whether it is call-and-response or the accumulation of detail in the midst of excited anticipation, the moose that appears on the page never appeared to the poet. The group waits patiently--watching herons, listening to owls--until the moon comes out. But the hoped-for event does not take place. They "stared at the far shore," a line that is repeated to emphasize the straining quality of anticipation--the eagerness to bestow their attention on the moose. But the shore remains empty, like a fully prepared stage on which the performance never takes place.
The irony of the poem is that, as far as the reader is concerned, the description of the performance has already been given. For the poet the details may be second-hand, may be remembered from other views of a moose, or may merely be compiled from books and speculation. But the human mind can--without ever having the experience--construct a convincing version of such experience from other materials. The "rumor of m
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