Herds

They do not travel alone

They do not even come in pairs

They travel as herds across generations

The white and the rogue the rare

Exceptions to invisibility.

Race, gender, sex, ethnicity

Variations in color, ranges

Of behavioral preferences

Fidelity’s expectations and limits

It’s hard to believe we survive the pachyderms.

They stomp around us raising dust

They trumpet a deafening cacophony

They mourn when a loved one dies

The behaviors, weeping, anthropomorphized

Beasts of burden, aged, wizened.

Wealth, beauty, health, class

Gaps of luck and lifestyle

Ironies of envy yet despised

Everyone’s skin thickens, thoughts disguised,

Ionesco’s rhinoceros, elephantized.

mcj  12:1118