Between Us And

BETWEEN US AND

animals is a namelessness.

We flail around

generically —

camelopardalis is what

the Romans came up with

or "giraffe" ( it looked to

them like a camel crossed

with a leopard ) or get the

category wrong — a musk

Ox isn't an ox at all but

more closely cognate with

the goat — and when

choosing to name

individual animals we

pretend they are objects

(Spot) or virtues (Beauty)

or just other selves (Bob).

Structure

18 lines · 18 stanzas