William Stafford
Traveling through the Dark
Traveling through the dark I found a deer
dead on the edge of the Wilson River road.
It is usually best to roll them into the canyon:
that road is narrow; to swerve might make more dead.
By glow of the tail-light I stumbled back of the car
and stood by the heap, a doe, a recent killing;
she had stiffened already, almost cold.
I dragged her off; she was large in the belly.
My fingers touching her side brought me the reason—
her side was warm; her fawn lay there waiting,
alive, still, never to be born.
Beside that mountain road I hesitated.
The car aimed ahead its lowered parking lights;
under the hood purred the steady engine.
I stood in the glare of the warm exhaust turning red;
around our group I could hear the wilderness listen.
I thought hard for us all—my only swerving—,
then pushed her over the edge into the river.
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Waking Up At Night
My fingers traverse blankets of darkness
and find disappointment in barren bedsheets.
I roll over, because staring at your empty pillow
usually evokes banished necessities, like worthless meanderings
Thoughts pulse. I left you a sliver in the back of my head,
illuminated by the translucent glow of a Droid,
your name dancing light in nightmares until it too
disappears in the void of the frigid pillowcase.
How could I forget I no longer own you?
My lease is up on that armed shelter.
The heat's been turned off, and the bedroom's flooding
but I never got a bill and there is no insurance
that you'll ever come back, I don't
want you back. I don't. I can't forget I left you
for emotionally abusive reasons that turn the comforter
to tattered fragments of faked polyester blend. I can't.
I flip my pillowcase over to remind me,
that cold can feel better, and then I fall asleep.
I like the speed of this poem. It’s slow as if you are slowly falling asleep. I don’t mean that the piece makes me fall asleep I mean it with the context of this piece. I loved the concrete image in line 6 “illuminated in the glow of a Droid.”You have very good use of concrete imagery in that stanza and stanza three. I like how the speaker is obviously trying to convince themselves that they do not want to own this person again, or in other words be owned by the other. I like the mixture of the long, detailed sentences, and the two worded sentences. Those are the ones that seem of most importance, “I can’t.”I like the significance of the pillow, how you can just flip it over and erase the thoughts in your head. It’s like turning a picture frame face-down and it’s a subtle sign in this piece. This piece seems to be an argument between the speaker and only the speaker, an internal struggle, however it seems to be written for an audience of just one. “emotionally abusive reasons” seem to be too spelled out for me. Everything else in this piece is so vivid and concrete. The words don’t seem to work for me. The form is good, how you break up the line between stanza three and four is absolutely beautiful to me. It transitions into the next stanza and change of thought well.
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