What's with the Rabbit ...
Essay & poem by Bridget Riversmith

Red Rabbit entered my childhood mythology as a horrible recurring nightmare in which he escaped a trap by shedding his skin. Writing prose, poems, and painting new worlds and adventures has proved a good method for taking the venom out of things that frighten me - I turn them into stories. He's since become a benevolent ally, and settled in as a ubiquitous character in my artwork. Cute is not a word that I would use to describe him, but he enjoys that looks can be deceiving. He's definitely more jack rabbit than bunny. A trickster by nature, he can shift his shape, and slip between realities. Elusive and hyper-vigilant, he also suffers extreme curiosity, which repeatedly and inevitably draws him into the endless quagmire of adventure. All of his extraordinary capabilities have come at a very high price though, for he is indeed deceased.