from I’m a Cassowary You’re a Cassowary too
Our era meets
a pre-historic long
gone other
The Cassowary a prisoner
of that meeting
A silent film
in color
The Cassowary walks
towards the human
The human backs
away The Cassowary
continues to move
forward
towards the human
and the sea
Everyone
uses their camera
Flickering the Cassowary
bends to scratch
its blue neck stops
Cassowary private
with your low
tones Secret
skull growth
Spiritually iridescent terror
What do you
look like you
look like nothing
Still they like
looking at you The
humans do In
what capacity
Prostrate throating
amphibian growls
for the watching
humans
I too look
and hear
Unable to stop
looking or
hearing I am
the bottom
of a low slung
feeling
That middle-of-the-night feeling
of needing
to climb into a cold body
of water The river
Cassowary glistens
on Watching
Gina Abelkop is the author of Darling Beastlettes (Apostrophe Books, 2012) and Trollops in Love (Dancing Girl Press, 2011). She lives in Athens, GA, where she also runs the feminist press Birds of Lace.
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