- The only time the title word is used in the poem. However, we may consider the faces,
possums, crows, lions, etc. as a variety of icons.
An Icon (the capital is intentional) is a religious image which is both
itself and points beyond itself. Which is to say, an Icon of the Virgin Mary is both an
image of Mary and points to a spiritual reality that Mary has come to represent. Thus,
we speak of Marilyn Monroe as icon of 1950's sexuality.
What the lions, possums, &c of this poem point to, I leave to you and
your poetic sensibility.
