NAMES OF THE HARE
After Seamus Heaney’s translation from the Middle English
a man met his left leg
all is not right
a man met his right leg
all is still not right
unless he descend from the ground
what he holds in his hands
what he blesses with arms
how he forgets peace
but let’s interrupt
our story to speak the names of rabbits
scum-from-shed
pus-gravel
beat-the-child
donkey-pot
weight-loser
narrow-arrow
home-late
sky-daddy
wife-of-hate
blue-eyes
eyes-of-wall
hedge-hidden
stayabed
coupon-colour
fakebreath
twitterbark
race-monkey
unusual-ear
double-pill
air-pollution
turbo-nose
Olympic-bid
blood-hashtag
Herb Alpert
I look forward to you
shake-in-heart
lambs-are-flying
gum-sucker
awesome-Pete
make-believe salmonsnack
man who cares for the fear of all
one who is afraid to call it
all this happened
and you can go a long way
to the east
to the west
to the south to the north
wherever you are willing to go
and now, man meeting his legs upon the green
a wonderful day to you
I come to my deceased family
like springtime
Author’s Bio
Gary Barwin is a writer, composer, visual and multidisciplinary artist. His latest books are Cemetery for Holes, a poetry collaboration with Tom Prime (Gordon Hill,) and For It Is a Pleasure and a Surprise to Breathe: New and Selected Poems (Wolsak and Wynn).