THE WHEATON MASTODON

It had lived in an age of ice,

found its short 

resurrection 

rising from the clay

of the marshy earth

           in cold winter

to wondering 

biblical gaze,

now, in this fiery summer

heat 

        it burns

with the sheltering museum,

with the city

set for its own resurrection

more lasting,

                       for now

facing the fiery millennias

to come,

the errand apes' mistake,

until the glaciers

and grasslands

return

and whatever great beasts

will come

with them

over the mournful earth

hiding the cracked ribs

of the great 

                    urban beast.

07.06.2026