Poetry Contest for National Poetry Month 2010
Poetry Contest Judges | Best poetry ever! booklist
Lion (mp3)
The last image I had of you:
you were thin, struggling
confused by pain
moving over dried grass
as though every step
was taken on fiery coals.
Your stomach was heaving, lurching
as though some malevolent spirit
was trying to get out
and I knew deep inside me,
in that place where it's all connected
that you were in the moment
of your dying;
the cow carcass laid out
for your easy consumption
had become unexpected shards of glass
tearing at your intestines
like serrated knives—
making a meal of you
from the inside.
You became a thing
of flesh and pain
unrecognizable,
about to vomit out
your very bones.
I wanted to roar,
howl on your behalf.
Instead I watched you suffer
in silence; yours and mine,
You were already long gone.
The voice on the television said
that the lions are now on the verge
Of extinction
due to the loss of natural habitat
and the insidious poison
they cannot see or smell;
a gift of agonizing death
from poor farmers protecting
their livestock, their livelihood
with pesticides from America.
I want to have hope
but lately it seems that
extinction has become the norm;
just another piece of terrible news.
Renee Ammendolia
