Accidents

 I heard this poem today that made me think of the novel "Hare."  The poet, Norman Maccaig ran over a hare.  We have all run over a squirrel, skunk, rabbit, etc.  One time I hit a bird, rather a bird hit my windshield, and once a dog ran into my car.  

This poem, Interruption to a Journey, states simple facts, but relives how I felt. It does this by meter.  At least, that what I think.  This is a simple experience, probably all of us have experienced.  But the way it is written adds depth.  We are forced to think about it.  Only a poem can do justice to this experience. When we harm a living creature, it shouldn't be a small thing.  Accidents change something.  It leaves us in a different landscape.

The hare we had run over Bounced about the road On the springing curve Of its spine.

Cornfields breathed in the darkness, We were going through the darkness and The breathing cornfields from one Important place to another.

We broke the hare's neck And made that place, for a moment, The most important place there was, Where a bowstring was cut And a bow broken forever That had shot itself through so many Darknesses and cornfields.

It was left in that landscape. It left us in another.