DDCPoetry

Poem Found Here: "Arrowhead" by Tasha Cotter "To understanding the word enemy , imagine"  The first line proposes to the speaker that the understanding of "enemy" is what the poem is going to explore.  Note not the definition, since definition doesn't mean understanding.  It's where the audience has to experience vicariously in order to understand.  And at first the audience is imagining, "The buffalo grazing while listening / For the stir of men approaching/ The hill" Note that the grammar in this part indicates that the men do or do not exists.  The focal point of the buffalo listening out mirrors our own expectations as readers for something out there that might attack us, "sharpened flint in their palms." Then the poem shifts from the buffalo's perspective to the men -- imaginary men:      Each of them, ready to die for the same      Thing: the hush of a limestone cave,      The rise and fall of sinking creeks. Th...