Talking to the Dead

Amidst the confusion of Rich's poem "Sources", I was able to interpret a small portion of her poem which seems to give some insight as to who Rich is speaking to in this poem as well as her view on the idea of talking to the dead. On p.113, section XXII,Rich makes it clear that she is talking to someone other than her father as she states, "it's been different with my father:he and I always had a kind of rhetoric going with each other, a battle between us, it didn't matter if one of us was dead or alive" (113). Not only does this excerpt serve to clarify who Rich isn't speaking to, but it also tells the reader that Rich believes communication with the dead is indeed a possibility. She believes that writers can either speak about or directly to the dead. For her personal purposes she tells that she often has to speak to the dead. Beside from her own intentions, Rich writes how she hates the living writer because they are terrible "projectionists" (113), and she doesn't like the way they "use the dead" (113). Although it seeems Rich is using the dead in some fashion to converse about her suffering due to being a Jew, and not "giving herself away", Rich fails to clarify the reader with any other purpose for this talking to the dead. I am unclear the significance the dead are far as being part of a source. It seems Rich talks to the dead to avoid feeling alone so the dead can be possibly considered a source of company, encouragement, and support.