Pop’s Elephant
Adayre is generous with
his chalk today: here, Pop,
he offers. Last visit, he had declined
my offer to draw.
No Pop he said. And
his no was as firm as a banker’s stamp.
Although he was
kinder than a banker;
his no was gentle,
as if forced upon him
by dire circumstances.
Today, in response to such graciousness, I make
an attempt at an elephant. At least I try for
large floppy ears 😊
and something that is supposed to be a trunk.
Adayre is very accepting—elephants come
in all sorts of shapes, he must figure.
And this is Pop’s, not to be
scorned or thought inferior
just because his trunk looks more
like a garden hose
and his head a bit like an orange melon
with suspicious growths sprouting
out from the sides.
Adayre doesn’t regret the offer of chalk.
He even offers me more. If he were older
I’d suspect an artistic critique, but two-year-olds
don’t think like that.
He knows I did my best.
Why would I not?
And maybe in his two-year-old heart,
he thinks a world
populated by Pop’s elephants
wouldn’t be so bad.
