<div style="font-size:10pt;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;color:black;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><u><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">This is a very powerful piece. The questions
that are generated are a big part of its power. But even without the questions,
its emotionally powerful<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></font></font></u></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Ellephant Bones</font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Marcia J. Wick, The Write Sisters</font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">October 2018</font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Word Count: 116</font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">I grip the pain like an old love letter, </font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Torture myself with the cruel hurt. </font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">I hold on hard to the cold memory,</font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Relive my disbelief and angst.</font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">prefer
I a word like dread It sounds better to me.<o:p></o:p></font></font></u></b></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font size="3">You mailed me elephant post cards from <st1:place w:st="on">Africa</st1:place></font><font size="3">;</font></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><font face="Times New Roman"><font size="3">Due
to the specificity of this line, I believe this is an historicall<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></font><font size="3">fact rather than a metaphor.<o:p></o:p></font></font></u></b></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">You courted me for years with love notes from
afar.</font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">I painstakingly arranged a poster montage;</font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">I framed the mammoths to welcome you home.</font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">I watched as you destroy the evidence, </font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Shouldn’t
‘destroy also be in past tense?<o:p></o:p></font></font></u></b></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Evidence
of what? Evidence that he loved you? There is a whole story here, no doubt. The
question the line leaves is very powerful.<o:p></o:p></font></font></u></b></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">As you dismantled and mangled the post card
collage, </font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Wow!
What made him so angry?<o:p></o:p></font></font></u></b></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Insisting you could make it better,</font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Claiming
you would restore its life.<o:p></o:p></font></font></b></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><font face="Times New Roman"><font size="3">Now
I’m really confused.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></font><font size="3">What were his
motives? Was he too stupid to know that when you say you can make a heart felt
gift</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font size="3"> </font></span><font size="3">that was given to you, better, You
are really tearing</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font size="3"> </font></span><font size="3">the guts out of the
giver? That is dismissal </font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font size="3"> </font></span><font size="3">and
belittlement in the extreme. Is that what you are saying?<o:p></o:p></font></font></u></b></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">You ripped the herd apart as I mourned. </font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">It
seemes he even belittled the grief you were going through. Was that cruelty or
stupidity. I would ask him, “What happened to yhou to make you this way?”<o:p></o:p></font></font></u></b></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">You trampled attempts to preserve the time.</font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><font face="Times New Roman"><font size="3">Does
this mean<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></font><font size="3">he didn’t even allow your memories
of the</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font size="3"> </font></span><font size="3">goodd</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font size="3"> </font></span><font size="3">times?<o:p></o:p></font></font></u></b></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">You buried the elephant bones in a closet. </font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><font face="Times New Roman"><font size="3">I
believe this last line is metaphor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></font><font size="3">Or
maybe it is factual as well.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font size="3"> </font></span><font size="3">Are there
real pictures of the elephants he saw in Africa.?Or maybe even bones?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font size="3"> </font></span><font size="3">Anyway, he swept it all under a rug.<o:p></o:p></font></font></u></b></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">The graveyard haunts me still.</font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><font face="Times New Roman"><font size="3">I’m
assuming<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></font><font size="3">the grave yard is in your head
only, at this point. <o:p></o:p></font></font></u></b></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv3245811665msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
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