Fear

Fear of seeing a police car pull into the drive.
Fear of falling asleep at night.
Fear of not falling asleep.
Fear of the past rising up.
Fear of the present taking flight.
Fear of the telephone that rings in the dead of night.
Fear of electrical storms.
Fear of the cleaning woman who has a spot on her cheek!
Fear of dogs I've been told won't bite.
Fear of anxiety!
Fear of having to identify the body of a dead friend.
Fear of running out of money.
Fear of having too much, though people will not believe this.
Fear of psychological profiles.
Fear of being late and fear of arriving before anyone else.
Fear of my children's handwriting on envelopes.
Fear they'll die before I do, and I'll feel guilty.
Fear of having to live with my mother in her old age, and mine.
Fear of confusion.
Fear this day will end on an unhappy note.
Fear of waking up to find you gone.
Fear of not loving and fear of not loving enough.
Fear that what I love will prove lethal to those I love.
Fear of death.
Fear of living too long.
Fear of death.

I've said that.

Raymond Carver’s “Fear” goes into depth of how life carries more fears than securities. “Fear” is told from a parent’s point of view and is depicting his or her numerous fears that occurs on a daily basis about one’s child. For example, when the reader in the poem says: “Fear of the telephone that rings in the dead of night”, “Fear of seeing a police car pull into the driveway”, and “Fear of my children’s handwriting on envelopes”. The worried emotion that runs through each parent’s mind when their child is out at night, driving back from an event, or living far away from their parents and contact each other by sending mail instead of visiting on the weekend. The rest of the poem goes into the thoughts and fears of anyone. There are some fears that some would consider to be small fears: “Fear of not falling asleep” and “Fear of having to live with my mother in her old age, and mine”. Carver then describes the fear of death and says it two times. Carver talks about the possibility of waking up and discovering a child is gone and the possibility of a parent outliving one of their children. Carver was a parent of two children and this poem is one that he has experienced. He had many fears each day about his future and his children’s future. Carver uses metaphors in this poem and is not meant to be a literal meaning. For example, the fear of dogs when one has been told they won’t bite means his distrust of someone. Carver knew he was living a life that would not see a long road. Carver’s life was hard on himself and with this poem the reader can see that Carver clearly had more fears than securities in his life.