Spooks, with the subtitle "Asking," is a string of questions from a speaker who feels emotionally frozen. Early on, silence and "solitary frost" suggest someone who has withdrawn from the world, afraid of "making a final choice" and muting their own voice. They say they have never been happy, even a little.
The middle of the poem turns on a medical image: Novocain. The speaker compares themselves to a numbed mouth, unable to feel what they ought to, like forgetting the taste of candy cane. Then comes the central wondering: have they ever been in love? They say they have never felt it, and they wonder whether they've lost the ability altogether, calling themselves a "numb pathetic vessel."
The mood is lonely, hollow and quietly self-critical. Yet the closing question, "Is it bitter yet blissful?", shows curiosity and a faint longing. The speaker is numb, but not entirely without hope.