1 Poem by Marcia Slatkin

Potions

“I’ve passed many a lumped
corpse, and last month watched
a chopper swoop near my work
in the veldt, then heard the saw,
and knew another rhino’d been caught,
stunned, horns cut, then left
for dead. Trekking toward

the buzz, I found her, still
asleep and bleeding, her face
a field of splintered bone.
The blade snapped horn
like twig, striking this way,
that.  All I could do was
water her when she woke,
and phone for transport.

Some think rhino flakes
gather to a golden halo
from which flows health,
power, desire. Beetle paste also,
and monkey scrotal mash.

So, although science finds
the curved spear useful
only to the animal itself,
all else fiction, in China,
Vietnam, myth makes it
more dear than gold.

We can understand this quest.
Humans fear impotence.
Illness. Death.


Bionote

Former teacher, farmer, care-giver, Marcia Slatkin continues to play cello, take photos, and write. Her poetry books include A Woman Milking, Barnyard Poems (Word Press, 2006), and Not Yet, a Healing Journey Through Alzheimer's Care Giving (sfapress, 2012). nominated for a Pulitzer. Her fiction won two PEN prizes, and 18 of her stories have appeared in small journals. Many of her one acts have been produced off-off Broadway. Please see www.marciaslatkin.com <mslatkin@juno.com>