Here is my recent acquisition of elephants hand-crocheted by women in my village. Much as I do not need any more objects in my house, I couldn’t resist.
You can see my earlier elephants in this blog: https://judydykstrabrown.com/2017/12/29/two-facts-most-significant-in-considering-the-elephant/
Posted for Monday Portraits: An Elephant Aletta at Nowathome suggested this non-sponsored prompt. You can see her elephant HERE.
Panegyric for Pachyderm
Which one among us says I can’t
eulogize an elephant?
Oh thou of ears floppily gray,
of thee I have so much to say.
Words invented will not do.
I have to coin new words for you.
Your skin, in fact, is so abundant
that I must call you epibundant.
And other words unbunkable?
Tuskidopherous and trunkable.
Unchallenged monarch of the zoo,
parades aren’t complete without you.
Your trumpet fills the savanna air
to tell the world that you are there.
Rip Van Wrinkle might better name
thee, monarch of the great untame!
And though by any other term,
loxodonta or pachyderm,
we do not know thee quite as well.
in size and fame, you still excel.
For NaPoWriMo Day 11, we are to write a poem about a very large thing. And yes, that is me on the back of that elephant!
“No, no, no,” I said, “I can’t”
ride upon that elephant.
The creature lowered to one knee,
leg bent to make a step for me,
and seconds later, I was in air.
Was it courage or a dare?
Each leg gripped on a massive shoulder,
balanced on that giant boulder
of a back, somewhat nonplussed
as his handler swore and cussed
to not take down that massive tree
so long as he was bearing me!
Whereupon, once told “You can’t,”
this timber-working elephant
turned to descend the river bank.
I gave the rope a mighty yank.
(That was all I had to hold
as this leviathan grew bold,
intent on giving me a bath.)
His trainer ran to bar his path
and none to soon, in my opinion,
relieved this mammoth of his minion.
Soon after we had said adieu,
I faced adventures that were new.
It’s hard to see what I had there
around my neck, beneath my hair.
That snake wrapped loosely around me
hung writhing down below my knee.
I blew the pungi, hoping harm
would be abated by its charm.
What possessed me, I don’t know,
to agree to this viper show.
I wasn’t squeezed, I wasn’t bitten.
The snake was docile as a kitten.
I was a foolish girl back then.
What wild adventures way back when.
I’m pretty sure this is a python around my neck. I don’t think I would have been foolish enough to drape myself in a cobra, still, his owner had a pungi, which is what snake charmers use, usually to “charm” vipers or cobras. (Actually, it is the motion of the instrument, not its sound that weaves the spell.) I had on a top that was perfect camouflage for the reptile. Both of these photos were taken in Sri Lanka in 1973.
jdbphoto, Kenya 1967
Two Facts Most Significant
In Considering the Elephant
Pity the poor elephant
whose nose is so extravagant
that he can’t reach the end to swipe it
when he sneezes and needs to wipe it.
And pity the poor wayfarer who
makes attempts to motor through
tundra where these beasts reside.
I fear a bad end to their ride.
If pachyderms have chanced to poop
on roadways where they drive their coupe,
and in the dark they do not view it
and by mistake drive right into it,
their chances of making it through
are driver zero and ten for poo,
for it is true the elephant
has turd piles most significant.
No accidents in Nature? I fear there are a few.
In engineering elephants, here is what I’d do:
In the front, I’d furnish the trunk a windshield wiper,
and for the other end I would have given it a diaper!
All photos taken in Tsavo Game Park, 1967. jdbphotos
As usual, enlarge photos by clicking on any one.
Extravagant is the prompt word today. My apologies for this poem.
e
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 