woolly mammoth, elephant with wings. a winter jacket. bones as big
as cars. skulls like small and seaworthy boats. the tusks and their
curve toward the moons. in Alaska, in Siberia, in the mud in a farm
in Michigan. deep at the bottom of a pond. your DNA and the curl
of its frozen helixes. the silly scientists wanting to bring you back.
your permanent bony grin quivering at the corners. the de-extinction
of Lyuba, a baby mammoth in a glass box. the combing out of the knots
in your fur. the cutting of the split ends. the woman who writes the book
How to Clone a Mammoth. you, you monstrous sheep. you, being played
by God. you, an ivory piano. a set of sleek billiard balls. your antifreeze
blood. your small and trusting ears. listen close, woolly mammoth.
you have been positively selected. this is about survival. you will never
be 100% mammoth. the permafrost is here and we are all so cold.
woolly mammoth, elephant with wings. a winter jacket. bones as big
as cars. skulls like small and seaworthy boats. the tusks and their
curve toward the moons. in Alaska, in Siberia, in the mud in a farm
in Michigan. deep at the bottom of a pond. your DNA and the curl
of its frozen helixes. the silly scientists wanting to bring you back.
your permanent bony grin quivering at the corners. the de-extinction
of Lyuba, a baby mammoth in a glass box. the combing out of the knots
in your fur. the cutting of the split ends. the woman who writes the book
How to Clone a Mammoth. you, you monstrous sheep. you, being played
by God. you, an ivory piano. a set of sleek billiard balls. your antifreeze
blood. your small and trusting ears. listen close, woolly mammoth.
you have been positively selected. this is about survival. you will never
be 100% mammoth. the permafrost is here and we are all so cold.
Sara Ryan is a third-year poetry MFA candidate at Northern Michigan University and an associate poetry editor for Passages North. Her work has been published in or is forthcoming from Storm Cellar, Tinderbox, Slice Magazine, New South, Third Coast, Fairy Tale Review, The Blueshift Journal, Yemassee and others.