I’m an easel
for a giant painter.
I’m a stately solo procession.
I’m four sturdy tree trunks
holding up a tent
or a wrinkly grey blanket
flung over a line.
I’m a map etched with contour lines,
a blank billboard,
an advertisement for vegetarianism.
I’m a trumpeting trumpeter
calling the jungle to attention,
keeping time
with my swinging metronome of a trunk.
I’m tree muncher, twig cruncher,
grass masher, fruit slurper, leaf chewer.
Maker of massive footprints,
famous in folk tales and picture books.
Proverbial memory keeper,
ponderous,
pondering,
solid as concrete.
Tiny
thoughtful
eyes.
Elephant.
That’s me.
*
Philippa Werry writes fiction, non-fiction, poetry and plays for children and young adults. Her verse novel Iris and me won the young adult category of the NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults in 2023 and was named in the IBBY Honour List in 2024. Her children’s poems have been published in anthologies, magazines and poetry websites in New Zealand, Australia and USA. She lives in Aotearoa New Zealand.
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