Chasing Rabbits

Many thanks to the editors of Cloudbank for including my poem "Chasing Rabbits" in their latest issue! Since there was a printing error in the published version, I'm sharing the poem below. 

To read intriguing work by Andrea Hollander, Richard Jones, Paulann Petersen and many other poets and prose writers, you can purchase Cloudbank by clicking here.

Chasing Rabbits

1.

I chase a rabbit through the long wet grass.

For a moment I come so close I can almost feel

a breath of fur on my fingertips –

and then it springs again, and I’m after it,

my heart a fist pounding against

the door of my ribs.

  

2.

Oh, I have been bored for so long –

and now, finally,

this excitement.

  

3.

All year long I made toast

and washed dishes and watched steam rising from rooftops.

I sat on the faded couch and considered painting the peach wall white –

white like snow under a low winter sun –            

could its dim glow touch

the shadow inside?

I opened my purse and counted coins:

four dollars and fifty-three cents

in quarters, nickels and dimes –

enough to ride the train downtown,

but not enough to come home again.

  

4.

I don’t know the rabbit’s name.

Would it get my jokes?

Would it natter about carrots

and soccer fields and sunshine?

Are its dreams spiked with pitchfork tines?

5.

I don’t know if I’m good.

I don’t know if I’m awful.

Is there anything I’m not

scared of?

How many cruel bones

do I carry in my left

foot alone?

  

6.

Will the scars of my self-absorption

eventually cement each joint?

In a court of law, is a heart

steeped in ignorance

a solid defense?

And why chase rabbits?

(Is it worth analysis?)

  

7.

But oh, motion –

 8.

And oh, sweet teeth and tongue –

 9.

The taste of this moment –

a bliss multiplied

by none.

"Chasing Rabbits" was published in Cloudbank 13: Journal of Contemporary Writing.