Anaphora Using Wilfred Owen’s Line “If you could hear, at every jolt”
By Kimiko Hahn
If you could hear, at every jolt, the building quiver—
If you could hear fossils stirring—
If you could hear sand from the fathoms rise—
If you could hear calf thrum to whale—
If you could hear dogs stand still as a deer before bounding—
If you could hear bounding—
If you could hear a neighbor shout to her daughter—stand in the door—
If you could stand—
If you could hear what’s not a fault—and is a fault—
You’d hear the earth sounding war—
Notes:
This piece is part of the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize portfolio in the October 2023 issue.
Source: Poetry (October 2023)