Leonard Hardison Coleman—“Hardy”—was born October 29th, 1952. Descended from a long line of medical doctors, he felt he was expected to follow in those footsteps, but telling stories and writing poetry were the two activities that fueled him for his entire life. After two years at Simpson College and the University of Iowa, where he befriended author Denis Johnson, Hardy turned away from formal education. He moved back to Clear Lake, Iowa, where many of his family lived, before moving to Minneapolis, where he truly belonged.
In Minneapolis, he found work in many different fields. First, at a nursing home, where he met his first wife. Then as a cook at the Mud Pie, where he once took an order from Bianca Jagger and also served the B-52’s. He owned a moving company and his last full-time occupation, before the pandemic, was as a taxi driver. He and his cab were sometimes featured in music videos, including one by Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, where he can be seen dancing in the arms of his partner, Patricia. He and Patricia are also featured in the book, American Dreams, by Ian Brown.
All these experiences, plus raising his three children, fueled his poetry, plays, and short stories.
His children’s book, Game Day, was published by Moonfire Publishing in 2022, and he was thrilled to read it to many audiences in schools and bookstores in Iowa and Minnesota. Tapes of Hardy’s poetry readings are up on YouTube and harbored in publications like Does It Have Pockets? and The Ravens Perch, and some of his poems are featured in the anthology The Road by Heart: Poems of Fatherhood, edited by Greg Watson and Richard Broderick.
Blessed with “green thumbs—and fingers” his wild and beautiful gardens in South Minneapolis—where much is wild and often not beautiful—have gathered praise from neighbors and passersby, not to mention the assumed appreciation of the butterflies and bees.
Hardy passed away on March 26th, 2024, shortly before an email from Baubles From Bones landed in his inbox, accepting “The Wine of Communion” for publication. We were heartbroken when Patricia responded to let us know of his passing. He put his heart into every word, and you can tell. We are honored to have a piece of him here in our magazine. —Elyse Leskovic, with help from Patricia Enger.
