Constance Hunting

(1925-April 5, 2006)

REVELATION

My grandfather once saw a black-
snake in the act
of swallowing a frog.
Quick as lightning Grandfather
fetched the axe,
smote the snake like thunder.
The frog sprang out and sprang away
across the meadow–likely to start
a new religion. Grandfather said
you never saw a frog
leap so high!

CEZANNE

The man astonished all of Paris
with an apple
but his wife
liked only Switzerland and lemonade.

Constance Hunting was a beloved teacher of creative writing at the University of Maine. She was herself a published poet, whose books include Natural Things: Collected Poems 1969-1998, published by the National Poetry Foundation. She was founder and editor of The Puckerbrush Review and Puckerbrush Press.