Dear Luke, Sunset turned the cove into gold this evening, and I thought of you. I know you must hate me. And I don’t mean to open old wounds by writing. But stepping out the door, my heart exclaimed, “I wish Luke were here to see this!” Yet, even as longing filled me, I remembered your voice, telling me the Read More
Tag: pachyderms
Forswear
“No food during the day at all?” asked Phurnell. “Nah, dude,” replied Malik. “We eat as a family to prepare for the day. And then no food till sundown when we break fast as a family.” “And you got through 30 days of that?” “Yeah, 30 days plus a half day waiting for the new moon.” “That’s hard,” mused Phurnell. Read More
Cement
“Phabian, they’ve already finished the foundation! Why won’t you celebrate with me?” “Because it’s unnatural, you can’t convince me otherwise.” “But Phabian, you agreed. You said you wanted to do this with me.” “No, Jennifer, I said that I loved you and that I’d do whatever would make you happy. At no time did I express a desire to build Read More
Get Bred
They’ve been wanting to play matchmaker for so long. Now, he has arrived: Phomello, the alpha male that was promised. Eshe can imagine the office hens clucking away. Already they’ve spoken of futures they have no right to compose. “Hey, Eshe, do they really do trunk-tying at pachyderm weddings?” “David’s has a new line of plus-size dresses, did you hear?” Read More
Herds
by Anita Goveas I’ve always wanted a trunk. Hands are useful, but wonky lungs mean more time bumside-down means itches in hard-to-reach places. I saw Asian elephants at Chester zoo, Aunty Devika drove us from Stockport in her Mini Cooper. They liked to roll around in the mud, I could see that. But it turned into a two-inhaler day, so Read More
Forgive
Pachyderms have adapted to human society in so many ways, adopting our customs and manners with steady grace. Yet, the average human understands little about pachyderm culture or the ways it remains separate and distinct. Indeed, opponents of integration worry that dark and inhuman secrets remain concealed. Too often when the two cultures have conflicted, human ways have overpowered our Read More
Shit
The older man in the floppy hat snapped another picture, and Ephram almost went rogue. Spirits of Africa, how many candid shots do they need? If they lingered much longer, Ephram wouldn’t be able to control himself. He had to shit! For the last half-hour, Ephram had been tromping about, flinging mud onto himself, and squeezing his butt cheeks hard Read More
Prospect
by Normand Lepine “Begin by always expecting good things to happen.” – Tom Hopkins They parked around the corner to stay out of view of the house they were coming to see. Nick and Tara had heard rumors of a large house where elephants who were not quite like the others came to hang out. The rumors were vague and Read More
Elephant Pond
by Ashley Bullen-Cutting curving slats cross sorrel watersdirty replication in a surface shared with the swaying of green truncated souls stop midwayperceptions pricked to mistral conversehoary spectral splashing veteran oaks storify in squeaksrecollecting ashen anatomiesquesting elephantidae snouts little ones gawp and clapinfant hands pokingbetween vertical boardsreaching for the past Note from the author: The Elephant Pond is a lovely habitat Read More
Ferment
“Cheers,” I raise my glass. Pendo uses a forelimb to clink me, then dips his trunk for a taste. As the scotch squirts into his mouth, he rumbles. “Now that,” he murmurs, eyelids half-lowered in pleasure, “is worth keeping you humans around for.” Pendo’s huge mouth curls up in a smile. I frown over my laughter and poke at the Read More