Fear by Raymond Carver
Fear of seeing a police car pull into the drive.
Fear of falling asleep at night.
Fear of not falling asleep.
Fear of the past rising up.
Fear of the present taking flight.
Fear of the telephone that rings in the dead of night.
Fear of electrical storms.
Fear of the cleaning woman who has a spot on her cheek!
Fear of dogs I've been told won't bite.
Fear of anxiety!
Fear of having to identify the body of a dead friend.
Fear of running out of money.
Fear of having too much, though people will not believe this.
Fear of psychological profiles.
Fear of being late and fear of arriving before anyone else.
Fear of my children's handwriting on envelopes.
Fear they'll die before I do, and I'll feel guilty.
Fear of having to live with my mother in her old age, and mine.
Fear of confusion.
Fear this day will end on an unhappy note.
Fear of waking up to find you gone.
Fear of not loving and fear of not loving enough.
Fear that what I love will prove lethal to those I love.
Fear of death.
Fear of living too long.
Fear of death.
I've said that.
From, All of Us (reprint 2000)
So much of life is wrapped up in fear. Or so it seems to me...and a few others. "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" (Franklin Roosevelt), or "There is nothing to fear but fear..." (Francis Bacon). All that maybe true, but it's never helped me much. And this poem says it perfectly.
2 comments:
Another good choice of poem....there's been many a night where I've had all these things and more running through my head. Sometimes I think I should just get up, write it all and go back to bed - but then I 'fear' that once I start writing, I might never stop.....and so it goes on.
And what's that other quote/book title, 'Feel the fear and do it anyway'?
I think we all have those nights and experience similar fears. I love Raymond Carver's poetry; the ability to convey the whole gamut of human emotion in relatively few words. xx
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