Mondrian's Elephant

Excerpt

Reflections

An elephant's full-length mirror is too large
to move by hand, has to be built specially
in an elephant mirror factory,
tested for durability.
If one should break, it would herald at
least a century of bad luck.
Young elephants must be taught how to
polish mirrors, to snuffle up liquid cleanser
(mild, non-toxic, of course)
and spray it on,
flap their ears fast as hummingbirds' wings
to dry the surface.
Their reflections must be as spotless
as their class attendance records.
A well-groomed elephant is a confident elephant,
breezes through job interviews,
chats up the opposite sex with incredible ease.

There's a run on elephant mirrors
just before mating season.
If you waken at dawn, chances are
your elephant's up before you,
already showered, sashaying before the mirror,
flossing a tusk or just admiring that kingly hulk.

In the ladies' boudoir,
a more frenzied ritual unfolds:
moisturizers with vitamin E to smooth out
     the wrinkles,
false lashes long as
the fringe on your antimacassar.
If she's had her colours read,
she knows exactly which
lipstick shade exactly suits her complexion.
"Who is the fairest?" she often asks
knowing the mirror won't lie

and the grin that meets her own
is at least two storeys high

(from Mondrian's Elephant, p. 6-7)

Overview

"All of these poems were inspired by a single sound heard on a winter night. Suddenly I was privy to the secrets and idiosyncrasies of the elephants and had the opportunity to present what is perhaps the first historically accurate picture of what really goes on in elephant environs and how they cope with situations much like our own."

The Poet,
Certified Elephantologist

Awards & Reviews

Mondrian's Elephant won the 1998 national Cranberry Tree Poetry Chapbook Contest

Book Details

Availability

Most bookstores in the Ottawa area, and from the publisher.

Publisher

Cranberry Tree Press
5060 Tecumseh Road East. Suite 173
Windsor, Ontario. N8T 1C1 Canada