Heather Lazarus

The mind is divided in many ways... like a rider
on the back of an elephant..
Johnathan Haidt


I know
I have wasted my life
piercing nails
through my ears
my feet
caging myself
to quiet my trumpeting.

I mistook my hook
for contact
tipping my tusks
with poison,
sheathed in
cotton and iron
a tank
of wrinkled skin
like a crazed Nalagiri
crushing forward
half-blind
before

yes
before
the quiet came
to my bowed head
and I learned the scent
of water at a distance.

Now
there is no castle
on my back
and I can swim
alongside myself
lie briefly
on the bank
braiding bracelets
from the tufts
of my tail.