Thursday, May 23, 2013

With Elephants


from travelblog.org

This delightful poem, With Elephants by   Bruce Moody,  came to my inbox this morning from Poem for the Day by Larry Robinson, who collects and shares wonderful poems with his mailing list. Checking out the poet, I discovered an intriguing person who wrote a memoir about homelessness titled Will Work for Food or Money.

I adore elephants, and this description made my heart leap with delight. Thought you would enjoy it. A nice change from tiresome old Crone Crunchies !

With Elephants


With elephants everything
volumes
down.

A cascade of cliff
lumbering
on four limber pillars.

A fog of stone
always slowly
moving west.

A strolling Niagara, yes.

Wearing a wardrobe
of loose-fitting determination,
she looms
her great sweet
buxom
daunt.

You have felt their stone-tough,
bristly,
sensitive
proboscis.


It snouts around like the foot of a snail.
until it clamps the morsel of crackerjack,
which it,
like an undersea thing,
daintily,
and confidently
and insouciantly
and speedily
imparts
into its heart-shaped maw.


Bad for the tusks?


Well, elephant dentists and nutritionists say
Elephants must eat
for their health and satisfaction,
every day
of popcorn
a silo.


So who am I to lecture an elephant –
vegan as she is –
about weight-loss?


Elephants remember
to diet on whole savannahs
and toss their massy heads about,
making gales with their ears


and, with their Cyrano noses,
announce ––
stand back! ––


Triumphals!


- Bruce Moody


4 comments:

  1. Love the perspective Sherry ~ I second what helen said ~

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  2. Bruce is gifted; thanks for sharing. I am forever in love with elephants, who are endangered (of course, like every good creature)... loved the description of their sagging skin and their diet. Really wonderful poem, so glad you blogged it! Love, AMy

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  3. Thanks for this one Sherry. Have always been intrigued with elephants and the poem seems to match the tone of their gate.

    Elizabeth
    http://soulsmusic.wordpress.com/2013/05/26/before-breaking-silence/

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