What I learnt from the elephant by Nora Nadjarian

What I learnt from the elephant

That the thickest skin the loudest trumpet call that tusks and tasks and a period of madness and life goes on and offspring and wrinkles and folds and behind the ear the softest part of the entire body known as knuckle. That my mother used to say Don’t crack your knuckles and the mother elephant kisses the knuckle goodnight and tells a bedtime story don’t crack baby and happily ever knuckle. That the longest memory is not really that long and happiness can be a mud bath and dust twigs branches bark and the future smells of water from miles away. That the thick-skinned grieve their dead and gone the dead deed done skin and bones crushed carcass and the living gently touch and linger so long so long.

Nora Nadjarian is a poet and writer from Cyprus. She has won prizes or been commended in numerous international competitions including the Live Canon International Poetry Competition and Mslexia. Her work was included, among others, in Being Human (Bloodaxe Books), Poetry International, The Interpreter’s House, Magma and Perverse. Her poetry collection Iktsuarpok was recently published by Broken Sleep Books.