Above    all   that   mess, notwithstanding,  lest you
prefer    existence   at    the   quantum level,  String
Theory,   which    does    or does    not  include    the
gunmetal grey catbird feather thrilling my  mouse
pad but  otherwise metaphysics.

To  your left,  a  gorgeous  rhinoceros,  calf  in  tow,
grazing  below  a  leafless  acacia,  typical  Tuesday
muzzle  nipping  grasses  by  their  roots,  loose   lip
scouring      perimeter,      with     nearsighted     tusk
prepared  to stab any lioness or male on the prowl,
except maybe  No  Neck’s  black  mane swirling  50
years of Dust Bowl discontent in his wake.

Now   twist   your   licorice   waist  180  &  hover like
smoke trickling  a  philosophical meerschaum fresh
off  the   shelf,  fresh   off   the   Atlantic   shelf,   right
about there & no one else, love, no one else.

 

ALAN BRITT was invited to Ecuador in a cultural exchange of poets between Ecuador and the United States in August 2015. His interview at The Library of Congress for The Poet and the Poem aired on Pacifica Radio, January 2013. Besides 16 books of poetry he has published over 3,000 poems nationally and internationally in Agni, Bitter Oleander, Bloomsbury Review, Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, Christian Science Monitor, Confrontation, English Journal, Epoch, Flint Hills Review, International Gallerie (India), Kansas Quarterly, Letras (Chile), Magyar Naplo (Hungary), Midwest Quarterly, Minnesota Review, Missouri Review, New Letters, Northwest Review, Osiris, Pedrada Zurda (Ecuador), Poet’s Market, Queen’s Quarterly (Canada), Revista/Review Interamericana (Puerto Rico), Revista Solar (Mexico), Roanoke Review, Tampa Tribune, The Sunday Sun, Steaua (Romania), Sunstone, Tulane Review, Wasafiri (UK), and The Writer’s Journal. He teaches English/Creative Writing at Towson University.