WHEN I WAS AN ELEPHANT

when i was an elephant

i pushed the sun-bleached bones

of my mother's body

through the desert

with my trunk



i called out to my enemies for bread

and they came for me

with water.



it rained for 40 days and 40 nights


when i came up from the water

seaweed was wrapped up in my tusks

laced with ribbons



in my seaweed beard there slimed

along the passage of two amoebas in discourse:


said one amoeba to the other:

'i must fightyou now.
i must showyou, now.

i mustimustimust.'


said the other amoeba to the first amoeba:

'i must break anything solid inside you

i must take everything out of you that is made of flesh

i must do this with a ice cream scooper

made of fine diamonds'



when i was an elephant

i found my mother bloated

and floating in the water.



her pink dress spinning

like a slow-moving top



this when i was an elephant

when i could never forget.