Sometimes a thing
comes out of the woodwork
with more hostility than grace.
You’re supposed to hold still,
remain calm, stay in one place,
not run away and go berserk
or shield your face. Otherwise it will
think you’re threatening
it when it is threatening
you. You’re part of the sting.
Erica McAlpine’s most recent book is The Poet’s Mistake (Princeton University Press). She teaches literature at Oxford University.
This article originally appeared in The New Criterion, Volume 41 Number 3, on page 34
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