February 2018
David Huddle
dhuddle@uvm.edu
dhuddle@uvm.edu
Note: Along with the birds that visit my back yard are skunks, possums, chipmunks, cats, and bunnies. The latter are my favorite, mostly because I like the look of them, but I also admire them for thriving in spite of being defenseless, curious, and not at all cunning. The garden statue here was made by Vermont artist and craftsperson Georgia Landau, whose work delights me more and more the longer I live with it. Finally, I confess that Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book--written while he lived in Dummerston, Vermont--had a powerful effect on me as a child. I particularly savored the voices of the animal characters on the recording my parents bought for my brothers and me.
Instructing the Bunny
That he denies he’s a bunny, insists his name is Shere
Khan, and that performing stupid tricks is not his karma—
these are obstacles to the dignity I wished to bestow
upon him with my training. We did make a little progress
after I began calling him Mr. Khan and explained that all
I wanted of him was a bit of frolicsome jumping, ear
wriggling, and standing upright on his haunches, the kind
of thing that never fails to please both children and
parents. “Children,” he said. “Yum, yum!” I know it was
wrong of me, but I said, “Yes, yes, Mr. Khan, children are
readily available. All you have to do is rise up on your
posterior when I snap my fingers and stay that way for a
moment or two. I’ll send for the children right away.”
© 2018 David Huddle
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