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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>Elephant Bones<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Marcia J. Wick, The Write Sisters<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>October 2018<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Word Count: 116<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I grip the pain like an old love letter, <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Torture myself with the cruel hurt. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I hold on hard to the cold memory,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Relive my disbelief and angst.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>You mailed me elephant post cards from Africa;<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>You courted me for years with love notes from afar.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I painstakingly arranged a poster montage;<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I framed the mammoths to welcome you home.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I watched as you destroy the evidence, <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>As you dismantled and mangled the post card collage, <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Insisting you could make it better,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Claiming you would restore its life.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>You ripped the herd apart as I mourned. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>You trampled attempts to preserve the time.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>You buried the elephant bones in a closet. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The graveyard haunts me still.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>