Poetry
Ivory Tusks
Michael Fraley
There are three kinds of ivory:
The living tusks,
The bones returned to earth,
The hunter's prize.
The elephant neither flees nor fears
A time when he will not raise up
His tusks in celebration of
The spirit that enlivens him.
The earth is conscious only of
A great unbroken chain of birth and death;
She receives the tusks with patience
And molds them into breath again.
The hunter finds an isolating surge
Of momentary glory,
Which serves to sever him
From the natural order.
The living tusks,
The bones returned to earth,
The hunter's prize.
The elephant neither flees nor fears
A time when he will not raise up
His tusks in celebration of
The spirit that enlivens him.
The earth is conscious only of
A great unbroken chain of birth and death;
She receives the tusks with patience
And molds them into breath again.
The hunter finds an isolating surge
Of momentary glory,
Which serves to sever him
From the natural order.
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Michael Fraley received his MA in Writing from the University of San Francisco. He finds a creative community in the many voices of the poetry world. Michael and his family live in San Francisco near the beach and zoo. Michael has recently contributed to The Lyric, Blue Unicorn, The Road Not Taken, California Quarterly, and Better Than Starbucks. Tamafyhr Mountain Press published his e-chapbook Howler Monkey Serenade.
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