Inter-Species

Published by Pinch, 2019

In the lonely space between streets
I go to age.

Trying to alter my biology
I still can’t answer

how come I know I exist.
I do know when salmon swim into freshwater

the natal river changes their hormones. 
I was born witness to the sound of life.

Proclaiming my territories
I became a woman, a mother, a grandmother —

unlike the poachers
who kill thousands a year

leaving orphans
leaving mourning herds.                 

Now it’s the rainy season
and like gorillas

I make my daily nest
high in the trees.

A bull elephant vocalizes
in a state of musth

mates or fights
in his heightened arousal.

Not me. I just keep going.
That’s what I want to do —

even though I trip on roots
cracking through my city street.

BACK TO POETRY