Sidelining The Elephants Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

'sidelining the elephants by law'
in some localities, 'earlier...' the CBS
news feed read on the radio

played in my head with wonder.
sidelining the elephants,
doesn't that sound sad

like they did something bad
and were being punished?

and as if the ringmasters
are still in power
and glory in the hour:

they can say: the elephants are
sidelined from today.

all washed up
hunched small in huge corners
in a Schoolroom melee;

and that 'by- law'-
branding my elefantinos 'criminals
for the day' worded to imply further shame!

or maybe it all went down in town or
as at some strange neighborhood committee
meeting after coffee cake where

they joy in making
continually nitpicking little rules for the hugely innocent
lest they trample the lawns and the curb appeal.

or unionize with seals.

not, 'the elephants are freed'
not 'the elephants fleed in glee'
careening like gray flowers

down the slopes of our imaginations
emblems of inhumanity.
how I cried into the kerchief

of what was left unsaid.
on this, their happy new birthday day
shouldn't THEY get the cake and presents,

be the glory of the sentence, in red ribbons
as the verb of running away? liberation day!
not recipients of yet one more command.

'Disband.'

mary angela douglas 11 january 2016