Hardy Coleman
If sadness is a nagging doubt,
well, here's an antidote:
With every breath you fill
fall in love,
then exhale.
Some of the Reasons
That it is fragile
and when cracked
may not mend.
That it can be shattered
by negligence or anger
and the shards shall slice your flesh.
That it can lead you astray
and the crumbs you've left as markers
have long since been devoured
by the songbirds of circumstance.
That it may lie and cheat
on no more than a whim,
a pretty face, a fast car
or the heat of an old flame.
That it is burning
like your house down,
your barn, livestock and crops,
but you've been freezing all this winter.
That it is bright
enough to steal sight from your eyes
on this night so long and dark
that you may never see again.
That it is like a puppy who,
God willing, you will outlive,
then bury down below the garden
and nourish with your tears.
That it will become a memory
with parts pared out on the editor's floor and
a scene, here and there,
like a scar, still tender.
That all of the above,
given time, are guaranteed.
That it is yearned for.
That it is needed.
That it is sustenance.
That it is Holy.
That it
is what has brought us
into being.
Hardy Coleman gave a few bucks and change to an Elvis Presley impersonator who was attempting to impress a girl in a mink stole, but who’s Cadillac was nearly out of gas. He sat next to a Harlem Globetrotter on a New York City subway and they shared a couple of dirty jokes. He resides in Minneapolis with Patricia Enger, drag racing queen of Jackson County, Minnesota and living muse for much of his work.
