“Cascade Raptor Center: Capture” Section one

Part one of this poem seems to explore the shame and anguish that informs the second half. The shame that is weaved throughout the first section is most immediately noticeable in the repeated phrase “He hadn’t meant to hit the bird.” The shift in italicization emphasizes different parts of the phrase which parse through the stages of grief. The emphasis begins on “meant” which is used to both deflect blame but also immediately orient the reader to the fact that the bird was indeed shot. It next moves to “hadn’t” which largely suggests the same thing but furthers the concept that it was an accident. The next repetition italicizes “hit” which implies a coming to terms with the possibility it was his fault, but there is a question of if he intended to kill the bird. The final two repetitions jump from emphasizing the whole sentence and then emphasizing none of it. The emphasizing of the whole line is a statement of disbelief before the final acceptance of the inevitability of death.

The other really interesting thing I picked up from this section is the phrase “if he’d killed a man we’d all have been more compassionate.” In the abstract this seems like nonsense but the rest of the poem orients us as to why the bird is so valuable. In shooting a wild animal that’s existence is almost entirely limited to protected habitats he hurt something much more valuable than a man who is would be mourned but not threaten the existence of his species in his death. While the other poems make this analysis easier to come to there are moments in the poem that make it clear as well. The tension that exists between the birds who have to eat thawed rats to survive and the boy killer who has a rat tail. The irony is in the fact that the birds should be predators and vicious but they have been subjugated to captivity by actions such as the boys who is domestic and antithetical to the violent bird. The second section of the poem goes on to explore the silence that pierces the relationship of the father and son. While it’s connected to the first stanza I think this analysis largely covers the ideas presented in the first section.