by IRENE FOWLER, Contributor

“I don’t think there’s any such thing as an ability to easily use
a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up with Armageddon.”
– U.S. President Joe Biden

“Biden described the current standoff over Ukraine, with
Vladimir Putin threatening to use all means at his disposal
to defend Russia and the territory it has seized in Ukraine,
as the most dangerous nuclear moment since the Cuban
missile crisis 60 years ago this month.”
– J. Borger and J. Rankin,The Guardian July 10, 2022

     To read Irene’s new poem “Elephants Trumpeting Peace” click:

Elephants Trumpeting Peace

by Irene Fowler

Beloved and revered, gentle, peaceable giants
Tons of pleasing, amiable, grey hulk and bulk
Great wonders of the natural world
Magnificent, serene, unique; terrestrial ones.

**

The dignified, dutiful matriarch marshalls her clan
Uplifted trunks smell the hot, arid, wilderness air
Prized, life-saving, waterholes sourced by impressive muscular snouts
Strong, confident, and loving; the ruler leads her parched kindred.

**

Africa’s blood-orange, fiery sunset, ablaze
The stomping elephants raise high castles of red dust-clouds
Trekking as one, from grassy, rolling hills, descending
Momma elephant, ever protective, brooks no folly or dissent.

**

Arriving at their journey’s end to stake a place, at the refreshing oasis
A vital resource shared with zebras, hippos, warthogs, giraffes, monkeys, big cats et al.,
The gentle behemoths are no thuggish gangster-bullies
Thirst sated, bodies cooled, backsides turned politely; they take their leave.

**

Elephants; alert, loyal, guardian angels of the savannah
Mammoth, fan-shaped ears attuned to danger
Whilst trunks are quick to trumpet warnings
Wise, intelligent, gifted with retentive memories and alive to threats and consequences.

**

Gargantuan, sculpted and precious, animate jewels
Exemplars of the potency of power, strength and peace
Elephants; giant, blessed tokens and heavenly sights
Message; flailing, failing, feckless humanity
Might maketh not right!

**

© 2022 by Irene Fowler

“Nature’s great masterpiece an elephant; the only harmless great thing.”
–  John Donne

“The elephant needs a thousand times more food than the ant but that is not
an indication of inequality.”
–  Mahatma Gandhi

“They say that somewhere in Africa the elephants have a secret grave
where they go to lie down, unburden their wrinkled grey bodies and
soar away light spirits at the end.”
– Robert McCammon