SELF-PORTRAIT AS MASTODON REMAINS
the skull has been punched once twice
eleven thousand years later, the paleontologist
fits another tusk into the holes & sees
what damage the mouth can wreak
once upon an epoch, one mastodon bleeds out
& another one has a killer toothache
mastodon, no one ever told you that a hairy coat
hides all the blood or that the head
weeps from any hole it sees fit to
when your bones are resettled in the flood
do not mourn the scattering of jaw from rib
& hasn’t the heart begged free from the tongue
when they find what remains of your mouth, smile
finally revealed despite the blue effort of glacier
mastodon: the words breast + tooth in Greek
that was my last kiss my best kiss
—from The Last Mastodon
2019 Rattle Chapbook Prize Winner
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Christina Olson: “In summer of 2017, I was invited to serve as poet-in-residence for a paleontology conference and exhibition (“The Valley of the Mastodons”) at the Western Science Center in Hemet, California. These pieces were inspired by that time spent among the paleontologists as well as my observations of the museum’s collections of fossils, particularly Max the Mastodon.” (web)
Christina Olson is tonight’s guest on the Rattlecast! Tune in live at 9pm ET by clicking here.
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