ONCE: the elephant meditations

I

Once there was an elephant
with four legs. Wait! All
elephants have four legs!
End of story.

II

Once there was an elephant
with three legs. This elephant
was ashamed, and shunned by
his...hold on! I see the fourth
leg now. He was using it to
scratch himself–there are a lot
of mosquitos in elephant country.

III

Once there was an elephant
with grey skin. You might say:
‘That’s not unusual, most
elephants have...’ etc., etc.

IV

Once there was an elephant
with grey skin, grey eyes,
grey nostrils, grey toe nails,
a grey mustache, a grey
cigarette holder, grey, shiny,
silky lips, a grey deed to the
old mine shaft outside of town
and one overdue library book.
It was grey.

V

Once there was an elephant
named Babar. Pretty boring–
but not really!

His full name was
Pablo Diego José
Francisco de Paula Juan
Nepomuccao Maria de los
Remedios Cipriano de la
Santisima Trinidad Ruiz
BABAR.

He had four legs and
a normal-sized penis.

VI

Once there was an elephant
that skipped rope. And yet,
when he rose from the ground,
the world trembled. When he
landed upon the ground, the
earth was still. Think about
that elephant skipping rope
and the earth trembling and
then the earth suddenly still.

Think about the blue sky
above him and the puffy
white clouds that seem so
infinitely far away. Think
about the joy coursing
through his body. Do you
think he is happy? I bet
not. One thing for sure,

there is a
lot of grey around here.
Are you happy? No?
Me neither. Now what?