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Saturday, April 18, 2009

Elephant On An Opera Stage
By Duane Simolke


You read your program schedule
and ask me to leave.

I don’t belong here.

The thunder of my footsteps
echoes too loudly
for your establishment.

You call me a stupid beast.

Even with my size,
I manage to retreat
back into the shadows.


(From my book Holding Me Together: Essays and Poems).