Vox Populi
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Dion O’Reilly: Ecology of Fear
I.C.E
You found your perfect name, your perfect style. Armed. Armored. Camouflaged. Masked. A subtle tug of your finger— the God-like one that sparks Life—and you blast a beating heart to blood and silence. Such sorcery, to point pain away, place it on another; for a second, all your suffering stops. Like the rest of us, you dropped onto this hurtling planet with your own beauties. Perhaps you felt them, Iceman—faceted inside you, cherished beliefs in what you should have. But life fails us. Perhaps we all, from time to time, know what unwanted infants know, left on a hillside, crying till they die. But you, Iceman, you rose from common desolation, searched neighborhoods for ones you say were favored, who robbed you of your rightful place. Who cares the unseen art inside you, you got Glock, you got Kevlar. You’re giant, fit as a rhino. You could kill a rhino, and you would. There’s a poet in your way. She’s pink as a newborn, bright as the one star that heats the planet. Such warmth, Iceman, of course you’re terrified.
~~~
Ecology of Fear
“…these wild wolves have rebalanced and restored
our nation’s first national park.” National Geographic
Nowadays, we take them from Canada,
drop them in parks, make elk muscular,
creeks steep and narrow,
rife with muskrat and cutthroat trout.
Pack-magic on starlit plains, land beneath
their sentient paws, changed to an older way—
willow-lined banks, vultures well-fed, coyotes gone.
But I miss their storybook evil,
the blood-specked pearl of ripping teeth.
Let them follow our carriages, kidnap our young.
Let them watch us, night-eyes spectral
with reflected moon.
If they can mend the world with fang and fear,
surely they’ll come for us.
~~~
balaclavas. (Wiki)
Poem copyright 2026 Dion O’Reilly
Dion O’Reilly’s books include Limerance (Floating Bridge Press, 2025). She splits her time between a ranch in the Santa Cruz Mountains and a residence in Bellingham, Washington.
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I can feel the wolves’ breath.
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Shared.
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Oh God what full realization of an Art!
Prose. Poem. Both So beautifully and powerfully said. Sends me inward as much as out, acknowledging where trouble truly lies. And that art…
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Thanks, Sean. I agree. These two poems brilliantly explore the possibilities of poetry.
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Ferocious poetry, suited to our time.
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Oh, yes. Well-suited to our time.
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The two halves of this poem pair well together like vinegar and oil.
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yes! Michael Simms
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Completely staggered by this work. I was going to gesture to some of my favored phrases, but to do so would be to slight other ones I admire almost as much. Thank you, Dion O’Reilly (and, as always, thank you to Vox Populi for sharing such stellar writing.)
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Thanks, Annie.
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“There is a poet in your way”. “You’re giant, fit as a rhino. You could kill a rhino, and you would.” I will go back to read these again and again.
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the poems give us courage to do what we need to do in this dire time.
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If they can mend the world with fang and fear,
surely they’ll come for us.
I have absolutely nothing to add to these last lines. What a poem!
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It’s a great poem, isn’t it? Perfect for this moment in history…
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So perfect it hurts!
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Yes, I know what you mean. As Rilke implies, beauty is the angel whose embrace we fear.
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