Deaf Dog’s Bark
-Jim Harrison
A bit flinty. Trace of a squeak.
Does she hear her?
“I only hear my own music,” said Beethoven.
Is it an announcement or warning
from one so small and crippled
in youth by a child
who stomped her spine?
She listens to the glory of her past.
She knows where she is
in our home. She’s Mary,
the deer chaser, a woman
of power, a lion in her mind,
roaring so weakly into the dark,
trying to make hips follow chest.
Jim Harrison is a poet, novelist, essayist and short story writer. His writing often tangles with food, excesses and forces of nature. He has written eight books of poetry. His books are often set in the wilderness areas of America and his Brown Dog novellas have achieved world-wide fame.
Harrison told Lansing Online News he remembers his dad listening to the Detroit Free Press Poet Edgar Guest every “morn’ for kicks”. He said he recalls one Guest line, “I like to live in a little town where the trees meet across the street.” Harrison was born in Grayling, lived in Haslett as a boy and graduated from Michigan State University. He is currently at work on another ”Brown Dog” novella in preparation for a collection of the “Brown Dog” stories. “Deaf Dog’s Bark” is a recent poem.
I’ve always admired Harrison’s prowess in both poetry and fiction.