Man vs. Mammoth

A while back I heard of trees that were growing in New York City that were developing thorns on their branches. Scientists announced that elephants/mammoths once inhabited these now concrete islands, and while the beasts have not been a part of the local landscape (except for zoos) these trees for some reason were reverting to their genetic roots–growing thorns on their branches to protect from predators.

I cannot cite any scientific journals, nor even remember in what context this conversation took place, but for some reason the thought has stuck with me for quite some time. I found the idea very fresh [and yet antique]. Elephants in New York City? I picture them roaming the streets; laughing at the idea of a multi-ton animal eating leaves off one of the few trees in Manhattan, Brooklyn, or any of the other bouroughs.

This image has also provoked within me a desire for a deeper metaphor.
For instance, a more cyclical perseption of life–all things eventually return to their roots, just like the thorn-prducing trees.
Or perhaps, if elephants started taking the subway, walking down 5th Avenue, strolling through Central Park, would anyone in the chaos of our Starbucks-run-cell-phone dominated-Wall Street-shouting-jaywalking fast paced-lives even notice their looming presence? That and the fact that their gray flesh would blend in so well with all of the cold steel and concrete we humans love to surround ourselves with.

Anyway…it’s 2am, and here I am: thinking about elephants. (Since most scientists think in billions and billions of years, the elephants they were probably thinking of were a lot hairier and a lot larger than the ones in my mind.)

I wanted to somehow embody my strange thoughts on this subject in a poem, thus hoping to expell the thought “Elephants in New York City” from my mind, making room instead for material to be covered on my Tuesday exam.

So here it is, shoddy and perhaps unworthy of any kind of publication whatsoever… (I had hoped it might embody a sense of irony-irony in the fact that as out-of-place as elephants might be in such a city, the city itself is out of place.)

Elephants in New York City
By Sarah Madsen

Gray.
Between more metal and
concrete.
Big and out of place
along the skyline:
blue and unobtrusive.