By Anna Cates
Wilmington, Ohio, USA
I have panted for green places
standing before statues:
admirable men to questionable men
mortals on horses, Confederate generals
to conquistadors, cowboy cliches, Marlboro Men
of deceptive advertising, the old and ugly
even the beautiful, masterfully chiseled cold stone
or too hot to touch in record-breaking heat
leaving a thirst for boundless verdancy
an infinity of flowers and trees, a land
of clear water and skies, for you and me
and every peaceful Ferdinand.*
Ride fiery dawn
on a monstrous snake
with wings!
*In Munro Leaf’s children’s classic, The Story of Ferdinand (1936), the peace-loving bull, who preferred smelling flowers to bullfights.