by Jennifer Wilson
elephants never feel like this
lost and looking for the bones
of their mothers, extant flesh
hooding their eyes with tears
while their body rots beneath them
O give me sleep, lumbering
and heavy with a grey vastness
to eclipse the universe
give me bones cold enough
to feel the skin I have left,
to keep it as it is, bitter
and rough and unyielding
mark my footsteps with something
shallower than feeling, something
my eye can’t refuse as it weeps
its fluids in a dark humour
elephants never pity, blind
to the alternative – the body’s waters
being wasted in wondering griefs
Editor’s Note: Commenting on the inspiration for this poem, Jennifer tweeted, “It took me a while to realise that I’ve actually taken the central image of a dead elephant’s eye from a World Wildlife Fund advert (that plays between helpings of garbage on MTV), so I’ve donated some money to them.” We have likewise made a contribution to WWF in her honor, and invite our readers to do the same.
Jennifer Wilson is currently in the East Midlands, reading and writing when her baby’s schedule permits. Her work has previously appeared in Déraciné, The Cabinet of Heed, Memoir Mixtapes, & The Ginger Collect. A full list of publications can be found at jenniferwilsonlit.wordpress.com, and follow her on Twitter @_dead_swans.
(Don’t miss Jennifer’s haunting Congress of the Insomniacs. – Elephants Never)