"Fox"
By Alice Oswald
I heard a cough
as if a thief was there
outside my sleep
a sharp intake of air
a fox in her fox-fur
stepping across
the grass in her black gloves
barked at my house
just so abrupt and odd
the way she went
hungrily asking
in the heart's thick accent
in such serious sleepless
trespass she came
a woman with a man's voice
but no name
as if to say: it's midnight
and my life
is laid beneath my children
like gold leaf.
______________________
I was browsing the "Poetry Foundation"
website when I came across this poem about a fox who wakes up a sleeping woman
while looking for food on her yard. I found the poem very interesting and
illustrating for its reduced length. I loved the detail with which Alice Oswald
described the different actions, for example the fox walking across the yard,
or the moment the woman wakes up. I also liked the similes the author utilized
to give the fox a more human look, to the point where the woman can actually
think of what the fox might be thinking or trying to say. One last thing I
liked about this poem was its rhythm. By continuing one sentence in
the next verse or even paragraph, Oswald speeds up the rhythm of the
poem, and, combined with the repeating rhymes, creates musicality. I
was surprised when I noticed this musicality once I read the poem out
loud, but I hadn't noticed before.
After reading the poem I looked at the author's
profile and I have to say that I was impressed by her resume. I was also
intrigued by one of her works, "Memorial", which is a rework
of Homer's Iliad approached from a new perspective.
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