Consider these questions as you work your way through this poem. What is the effect of this imaginary “firecat” on the clattering bucks? Why do they form a neatly geometric “circular line” when trying to avoid the firecat? Does this interaction remind you of any similar pattern in your own life?
Earthy Anecdote
by Wallace Stevens
Every time the bucks went clattering
Over Oklahoma
A firecat bristled in the way.
Wherever they went,
They went clattering,
Until they swerved
In a swift, circular line
To the right,
Because of the firecat.
Or until they swerved
In a swift, circular line
To the left,
Because of the firecat.
The bucks clattered.
The firecat went leaping,
To the right, to the left,
And
Bristled in the way.
Later, the firecat closed his bright eyes
And slept.
Glossary
Anecdote: a short, entertaining story
bucks: male deer
firecat: an imaginary animal; or may refer to a cougar or mountain lion
Wallace Stevens, "Earthy Anecdote" from Harmonium. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1923. Public domain.)