A Poem of Fears

a poem of fears: in seven installments


1

some had a fear of men
some had a fear of women
some had a fear of girls
some had a fear of children
some had a fear of tyrants
some had a fear of priests
some had a fear of popes
some had a fear of people
some had a fear of crowds
some had a fear of mobs
some had a fear of robbers
some had a fear of foreigners
some had a fear of Englishmen
some had a fear of French
some had a fear of Germans
some had a fear of Japanese
some had a fear of Jews
some had a fear of Negroes
some had a fear of Russians
some had a fear of Chinese
some had a fear of God
some had a fear of Satan
some had a fear of demons
some had a fear of ghosts
some had a fear of spirits

2

some had a fear of cats
some had a fear of dogs
some had a fear of horses
some had a fear of mice
some had a fear of bulls
some had a fear of animals
some had a fear of reptiles
some had a fear of snakes
some had a fear of birds
some had a fear of fish
some had a fear of worms
some had a fear of mites
some had a fear of bees
some had a fear of spiders
some had a fear of insects
some had a fear of lice
some had a fear of microbes
some had a fear of bacteria
some had a fear of germs
some had a fear of monsters

3

some had a fear of flowers
some had a fear of flutes
some had a fear of bullets
some had a fear of needles
some had a fear of crystals
some had a fear of mirrors
some had a fear of pins
some had a fear of dust
some had a fear of strings
some had a fear of dirt
some had a fear of corpses
some had a fear of water
some had a fear of metal
some had a fear of gold
some had a fear of money
some had a fear of machinery
some had a fear of vehicles
some had a fear of telephones
some had a fear of hair
some had a fear of skin
some had a fear of fur
some had a fear of teeth
some had a fear of eyes
some had a fear of beards
some had a fear of feathers
some had a fear of rectums
some had a fear of slime
some had a fear of feces
some had a fear of blood
some had a fear of urine
some had a fear of food
some had a fear of drink
some had a fear of drugs
some had a fear of poison
some had a fear of small things
some had a fear of new things
some had a fear of one thing
some had a fear of everything

4

some had a fear of comets
some had a fear of sun
some had a fear of stars
some had a fear of gravity
some had a fear of lightning
some had a fear of thunder
some had a fear of wind
some had a fear of drafts
some had a fear of fog
some had a fear of clouds
some had a fear of snow
some had a fear of floods
some had a fear of waves
some had a fear of cold
some had a fear of heat
some had a fear of fire
some had a fear of light
some had a fear of dawn
some had a fear of darkness
some had a fear of shadows
some had a fear of night
some had a fear of body odor
some had a fear of ice & frost

5

some had a fear of closed places
some had a fear of heights
some had a fear of precipices
some had a fear of rivers
some had a fear of the sea
some had a fear of churches
some had a fear of home
some had a fear of heaven
some had a fear of hell

6

some had a fear of crossing a street
some had a fear of crossing a bridge
some had a fear of passing high buildings
some had a fear of going to bed
some had a fear of coitus
some had a fear of work
some had a fear of writing
some had a fear of sleep
some had a fear of stealing
some had a fear of speech
some had a fear of swallowing
some had a fear of soiling
some had a fear of standing
some had a fear of being idle
some had a fear of taste
some had a fear of touch
some had a fear of smell
some had a fear of thinking
some had a fear of trembling
some had a fear of ridicule
some had a fear of a beating
some had a fear of smothering
some had a fear of inoculation
some had a fear of childbirth
some had a fear of death
some had a fear of music
some had a fear of sin

7

some had a fear of sourness
some had a fear of sharpness
some had a fear of narrowness
some had a fear of weakness
some had a fear of dampness
some had a fear of pain
some had a fear of justice
some had a fear of freedom
some had a fear of pleasure
some had a fear of fatigue
some had a fear of poverty
some had a fear of fear
some had a fear of punishment
some had a fear of color
some had a fear of duration
some had a fear of motion
some had a fear of symmetry
some had a fear of speed
some had a fear of loneliness
some had a fear of ruin
some had a fear of imperfection
some had a fear of responsibility
some had a fear of failure
some had a fear of sex
some had a fear of marriage
some had a fear of heredity
some had a fear of nudity
some had a fear of ideas
some had a fear of words
some had a fear of names
some had a fear of philosophy
some had a fear of magic
some had a fear of infinity
some had a fear of the void

Jerome Rothenberg

Posted over on Poems & Poetics