Date: Thu, 13 Jun 1996 14:10:44 -0600

From: Joan Houston Hall jdhall[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]FACSTAFF.WISC.EDU

Subject: Re: firecat



John Serio, editor of The Wallace Stevens Journal, has asked for help in

identifying the "firecat" in the following poem by Stevens. Does anyone

know the term? He says that in a letter Stevens said that he had "actual

animals" in mind.



Earthy Anecdote



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.



Joan Hall, DARE