STEVENS, Wallace. "Earthly Anecdote"

literature: poetry ZIGROSSER, Carl (1891-1975)PACH, Walter (1883-1958)STEVENS, Wallace (Reading, Pennsylvania, 2710/1879 - Hartford, Connecticut, 2/08/1955) American Modernist poet STEVENS, Wallace (Reading, Pennsylvania, 2710/1879 - Hartford, Connecticut, 2/08/1955) American Modernist poet

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.

The illustration on the left was created by Walter Pach for this poem.

Carl Zigrosser, Typescript Memoir, Rutgers University Library, "Modern School Collection", describes his experiences editing The Modern School (1917-1920), and his impressions of Wallace Stevens, who wrote some poems for the magazine