Catalogue of Damages
       

All these years not knowing
the difference between mammoth

and mastodon: just another
human so proud in her indifference.

It's in the teeth: mammoth teeth
resemble the rubber sole of a snow boot—

mastodon teeth, jagged mountains
turned to granite after all these years.

Jefferson thought the West still crawled
with mastodons, sent Lewis & Clark to thin the herd.

All morning I've tried to reconcile
our ambition with the misery it brings:

what we set out to do & what disaster ensues.

Eleven foot at the shoulder, Max
is the largest mastodon in the West.

Jefferson owned Sally Hemings.
I never could make small talk with my father.

I told you this was a catalogue of damages.
Oh god, the mouth is such a weapon.

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Copyright © 2019 Christina Olson All rights reserved
from The Last Mastodon
Rattle
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission