WE SAW ON THE WATER A MONSTER WITH THE HEAD OF A TIGER

On another occasion, we saw on

The water a monster with the head

of a tiger, a sharp nose Like That

of a wildcat, with whiskers and straight,

Erect ears; the head was gray and

The Neck quite black; but We

saw no more creatures of this sort.

"Of the first Voyage made by Father Marquette toward new Mexico, and How the idea thereof was conceived." From Reuben Gold Thwaites(1853-1913) (edit.): The Jesuit relations and allied documents. Volume 59(1896), Chapter CXXXVI-CXXXVIII, Voyages Du P. Jacques Marquette, 1673-75.

A solitary chimaira,

born of the mixing of feline

species in a salad bowl of genes

and taken to the life aquatic,

bred out of existence

in segregation, with no mate

in a Jim Crow country

where races

shall be as separate

as mythology

and zoology.

01.-02.09.2025

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