Serengeti 

Having tried to imagine 
the place her ancestors
came from,
I couldn’t…
After all, culture
is an individual experience
like reality; we each
crouch in our own eggshell,
never really hatched,
fumbling toward each other
with soft tendrils of language
and clumsy touch; the warmth
of our bodies
that common humanness 
we possess 
yet share
haltingly.

I didn’t know what 
animal analogy 
to describe her in;
an antelope, maybe -
strength and grace in
tense, serious earth tones,
still ruled by unspoken fear,
her human sophistication
mere artful camouflage,
her Serengeti habitat -
its tall grass swaying
in lions’ watchful gaze.


© Jonathan Bohrn, 2004 

Serengeti Flight
composite © 2004 Marko Tovares