Words can ‘domesticate a fear’
A rather morbid but vivid poem from Richard Wilbur, quoted in a Christian Century review of his new compilation (which is excellent):
A Barred Owl
Words, which can make our terrors bravely clear,
Can also thus domesticate a fear,
And send a small child back to sleep at night
Not listening for the sound of stealthy flight
Or dreaming of some small thing in a claw
Borne up to some dark branch and eaten raw.
Posted by Nathan Bierma on 05/26 at 08:42 AM
Lovely poetics, without the singsong of oldfashioned rhyme. That is a striking phrase you picked out of the poem, Nathan.
Posted by Wayne Leman on 05/26 at 08:58 PM
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