“there’s a feeling something needs us here”
Joseph Hardy
Artist Statement: The shortest distance between two emotions: ordinary, true.
odd with global warming, our unstaunched polluting,
and where we fit:
the earth no longer flat, sun
not revolving around us anymore.
we, joining birds and apes as tool makers,
racoons with opposable thumbs,
who did not invent killing to eat,
parasites, cancer, domination within a pack,
not even the lying
practiced by moths mimicking tree bark—
feel something needs us here.
Joseph Hardy lives in Nashville, Tennessee, His work has been published in: Appalachian Review, Cold Mountain Review, Inlandia, Poet Lore, and Poetry City among others. He is the author of a book of poetry, “The Only Light Coming In”.