Freighting to the Circus
Elephants trumpeting from a boxcar,
echoes ricocheting off vinyl siding & warehouse
walls. Never such a blaring before in the bedraggled
walls. Never such a blaring before in the bedraggled
factory town. The sounds, eerie & regal,
still stuck inside my muscles like residue
of tree sap. Their trumpeting loosens
an unsolved puzzle inside me & even when
I move to suburbia I still hear their high-pitched,
an unsolved puzzle inside me & even when
I move to suburbia I still hear their high-pitched,
messages from the borderlands. They cry
from leg chains, from cold bullwhips.
Elephants, can you forgive us
for taking so long to hear you?
10 thoughts on "Freighting to the Circus "
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your poem amplifies their bellowing and our deafness
A powerful setup to an even more powerful climax!
Yessss…”Elephants, can you forgive us
for taking so long to hear you?”
I feel it. Powerful poem
Wonderful poem!
Those poor elephants…
I have been known to cry at zoos, so this cracked the heart of me!
stuck inside my muscles like residue of treesap!
loosens an unsolved puzzle inside me!
I am curious about the unsolved puzzle …
It made me think of Bruceton and Hollow Rock.
And then I remember we went to find the swimming pool at thw Blue Dip but they had filled it with concrete and the bank was a single wide. I wonder if the elephants the small.towns.
Watching documentaries about elephants breaks my heart, gentle, mystical creatures. Thanks for writing about the tragedy.
The levels of this poem are haunting