Tag: rabbits

On Trust

Poetry by John Zedolik

The rabbits will remain to be counted
upon the evening lawns, satisfied
in sweet clover, some even splaying
hind legs, if I deign not to walk this dusk,

having scratched the itch to stretch
my only legs this recently departed bright
afternoon, for the evenings will repeat,
I do believe, beyond this pleasant one

though one should not assume too much
in this world of inconstancy, a spinning top
whose force might fail—yielding a stop
with no return and return of what circles

or has done so, bringing the bunnies out
to hop and munch under the cooling sky,
I aver without seeing, relying upon precedent,

a wise mentor—never yet—let me down


John Zedolik has published five full-length collections: Salient Points and Sharp Angles (2019, WordTech Editions), When the Spirit Moves Me (2021, Wipf & Stock), Mother Mourning (2023, Wipf & Stock), The Ramifications (2024, Wipf & Stock), and Lovers’ Progress (Wipf & Stock). All these collections are available on Amazon.

Shadows and Silhouettes

Poetry by C. DeForest Switzer

She stood her ground beside
the blue tarp, looking up at me in the window
from the new and unknown below.
I stared down, hoping to convey
that everything was okay;
But, of course, it was not.

My family hated the “pests”—
their destructive habits;
the drab, dirty-gray rabbits that lurked
constantly wary but secure,
indifferent,
bolting free with lightning speed…
No problem for Dad;
his pellet gun at the ready.
The offense?
Eating garden plants to nubs —
creatures older than us,
forever in the dark:
now a kit under my deck,
quiet and free of predator’s eyes
Silhouetted in the dusk.
A paper cutout, unconcerned,
nibbling birdseed on the flagstone,
feet away from her ground-level haven.
And me, in the gray twilight,
atop the shelter of her life,
My rustic deck.

As the winter wind blows the snow,
the blue tarp flaps
atop the sheltered haven.
“It’s okay,” I mouth, looking down
from my window above,
motioning with hands and body
as best I can.
“It’s still safe,” I say
to the rabbit looking up at me
Thumping her foot in reply.


C. DeForest Switzer lives in western Iowa’s Loess Hills. He loves the outdoors and studied at Cal State, Chico, competing in a South Lake Tahoe park design contest. He published a poem in the college literary magazine, “Watershed,” and has been writing since. Currently, he’s editing his first novel.

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