A quadrille for dverse
Beneath the hedge
long ears turn
antennae
capturing vibrations in the air,
nose twitches
with the scent of dog stalking,
flanks quiver
with pounding heart muscles
tensing with the vibrating, quivering
scent-sounds,
alert in every pulse of the blood
for the moment to leap.
This paints such a vivid picture, Jane. I just love rabbits and hares, all. I can see it.
They’ll sit tight right until the last minute.
Lovely poem! Such vivid imagery. I find the phrase “scent-sounds” especially compelling.
Thank you! I imagine animals experience a whole mixture of senses at once. They probably see scents and sounds in colour 🙂
This describes the hare to a tee.
They’re lovely animals. I hate them to be hunted.
I hate anything being killed 🦇
It’s how some perverts get their thrills. They should get another hobby.
Yes or become the hunted
I wish.
Yes
I like your description of the dog stalking the hare. I imagine them both quivering.
The hare usually risks nothing from the dog, it can always run faster, but not against a bullet…
I do love how you describe the hare… I can feel him, all tension, waiting to leap..
They seem to be able to judge their adversary, except when he has a gun.
I like the beginning of this. It paints a picture using few words.
Beneath the hedge
long ears turn
antennae
Thank you. The ears are a sort of hallmark.
Now that it something I’d love to see, Jane, a hare in a field, but I haven’t in a while, only a large rabbit at the petting farm I visited with my grandson and daughter. I enjoy the wildness of hares, the speed and the antics. I detest hare coursing. The lines about the flanks quivering with pounding heart muscles made me quiver too.
We get quite a few of them, but we also get quite a few hunters… How I detest them!
oh….I can see this hare perfectly in your words!!!! Quivering….readying for escape!
They can outrun most dogs and they know it 🙂
Even in town, we get wild hare nibbling at the garden. My wife does not see the beauty of the critters. I take the middle ground.
They are beautiful and inoffensive. No reason to kill them at all.
Animal quivers are compressed energy at its best. (K)
Always ready for flight.
That moment before leaping….I like the sounds of this poem.
Thank you 🙂
Some stunning slo-mo poetics here!
Thank you! Slo-mo until the very last split second then…zip.
Surrounded by so many hunters, the hare must be very careful and attentive.
And so much everyone else!
fright and flight – I can’t imagine living like that….
Nor can I. If you live in a war zone it must be like that.
You put me exactly in the hare’s place with such immediate, evocative imagery! Love this!