Ellen Harrold, Cacophony
Elephant Testimony
Cat Crochunis-Brown
As Twitter confections go it was half beautiful:
How we came across a bowl of corn wine
on our post-apocalyptic bar crawl, took turns
tipping back sweet chili sips.
How we bayed and sneezed
at the blazing sun.
And maybe I locked tusks with the one
who makes my heart strain
with hypothesis, coaxed their trunk
onto my forehead, branded myself
with their most secret names.
How the next morning
we were tangled dough melting
into the moss of the tea garden
when you found us–
still soft enough to let you capture it
with your square garish monocle.
And though we should have scorned
those blue delusions amplified (chirps
overlapping, burning with a million hearts–)
it was too late. Part of us already
in love. Now each night we doze off
to the hum of your continental whisperings.
We have been dreaming.
Next time, spin us
a canal baptism instead.
Make us leap like dolphins
off your vacated watery landing strips
up beyond the moon,
if you get the chance.
Inspired by fake viral tweets about elephants getting drunk in a village in Yunnan, China, and dolphins and swans returning to the Venetian canals, supposedly in response to humans’ coronavirus quarantining.
Cat Crochunis-Brown
As Twitter confections go it was half beautiful:
How we came across a bowl of corn wine
on our post-apocalyptic bar crawl, took turns
tipping back sweet chili sips.
How we bayed and sneezed
at the blazing sun.
And maybe I locked tusks with the one
who makes my heart strain
with hypothesis, coaxed their trunk
onto my forehead, branded myself
with their most secret names.
How the next morning
we were tangled dough melting
into the moss of the tea garden
when you found us–
still soft enough to let you capture it
with your square garish monocle.
And though we should have scorned
those blue delusions amplified (chirps
overlapping, burning with a million hearts–)
it was too late. Part of us already
in love. Now each night we doze off
to the hum of your continental whisperings.
We have been dreaming.
Next time, spin us
a canal baptism instead.
Make us leap like dolphins
off your vacated watery landing strips
up beyond the moon,
if you get the chance.
Inspired by fake viral tweets about elephants getting drunk in a village in Yunnan, China, and dolphins and swans returning to the Venetian canals, supposedly in response to humans’ coronavirus quarantining.