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CLARICE HARE - POEMS

11/25/2020

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Clarice Hare grew up in the rural Midwestern U.S. and bounced around a fair bit before settling in Gainesville, Florida, where she currently lives with an assortment of furry and scaly pets. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Amethyst Review, Ephemeral Elegies, Datura, SurVision, South Florida Poetry Journal, Arsenika, and elsewhere.

​First Love

 
The child I was
was grown, like a sasquatch
with a baby’s shadow: covered
in small hairs, but soft-faced,
with bright eyes,
a sunken nose,
and hair the color of chocolate.
 
He was thin as a paper doll,
but his face was lank as
the son of a hanged man’s. He was
blind, too, and
wasn’t strong enough to stand.
 
When we met for the first time, he had
to drag himself to the bathroom, and
I had to drag him to the mirror. He
thought he was ugly, and made fun of me
because of it.
 
I stopped thinking, and
with my eyes to the ground, 
​we shook hands
and I shuffled away. And
like that, I was left in the meadow,
for this life, our dark demon
lurking like a child among the roots.


​A Storm, A Seizure

“Look out, Papa!” A sudden, mad
twinkle out of the corner of my
eye. The bright light of the nearby
light-bulb. A smoldering
crack. The dark
breath of the distant
thunderstorm.
 
Then all was still and
empty and hazy and
blurred and I was lying
on the floor of my
father’s bedroom. And my father was lying
on the floor of his bedroom.
 
And I was certain he was dead, all broken and
bleeding and coughing and
gasping.
 
And my father’s brilliant smile: “And
look at all of these winged monkeys! And these
darlings, they’re jangling their tin bells! But 
​I’m not going to let that fool you. I’ve seen
these monkeys! And I’m telling you
that we can make them do
whatever we like!
 
So that’s why we’re going to do this.”
 
And he took my hand, and alone in his brainstorm,
I followed him into my dream, where
the clouds were silhouetted against a stark
night sky, and I hoped he could pull us
together into the terrifying new world.



​Fornication

Let this summer’s love be the freesia
in the southern breeze. One day when we
are at our best.
 
O be silent…O be
warm…I’m no
moonflower.
 
Every innocent thought, all
pondering; exulting. Calls to thee
again, when the dry caress
trembles.
 
Stands blazing still.
 
Steadily throws my limbs to the pyre.
 
In mercy, green breeze, full of
motionless splendor. Ether waves lean on us.
 
We push apart in its gentle,
creeping lash and flee
​before the voice from
the sky.

​Traumatic Aubade

Time passes and then,
finally,
the darkness passes. There is
an undecaying gentleness in the room.
 
The intensity of the sun
does not reappear.
Cold has disappeared.
The tiles brush my torso.
Clouds pass overhead.
 
I look down and my body has returned
to its tattered state. I breathe deep, let
it come and go. Breathe in,
 
breathe out, perhaps it’s okay,
I imagine.
 
Breathe in and out, feel the house
there all around me.
Breathe in, breathe out,
let the cool air take care of you. 
Breathe in and out,
let it come and go.
 
Walking between rooms in a world
that only exists in my mind
feels like walking between life and
death, in the process lost
in a body that cannot let go.
 
Breathe in and out,
feel your body fold over me,
taking me deeper.
Breathe in and out, only a few fee 
from the edge of a ravine
and on a descent
that will soon never be followed.
 
Breathe in and out,
get back to it,
fuck this,
take it back,
and go,
deeper.
 
Breathe in and out,
​sink into this,
feel you there,
touching me,
stretching my legs,
bending me,
waiting,
over and over.
 
Breathe in and out,
looking at me,
getting down and feeling my body,
over and over,
 
feeling your body over me.
 
When you are finished getting back
to the edge of the ravine, I’ll rise up
and turn around,
and look down
and kiss you.

​From Mitochondrial Eve to Me


​This is the beginning
of turning evil into bliss.
It is all around us,
even within our own body.
We must stay together now,
before we do damage
that is irreversible. You can see
what you’ve begun to accept.
In this moment, you need
to become a steward of the Earth’s bounty,
to protect and propagate life. It’s time
to step into your heart. Be brave,
be healthy,
be empowered,
and a steward of what you’ve been given.
 
It’s now too late, but not too soon
to take it for a ride.
 
Keep one eye
on the road to positivity,
and the other 
​on the road to awareness.
 
Walk this path together.
Sway in the right direction.
 
See you on the other side.
 
Do what you have to do for what you have.
 
Don’t let fear guide you, but take action
and watch from the sidelines
as you travel toward the truth.
 
You’re a vessel. So is everybody else.

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