An elephant escaped
the Point Defiance Zoo
and strode the streets
of Tacoma briskly, briefly,
as if going to work.
At a summer party
my parents threw, outside
in the High Sierra, the ever-
silent plumber, Otto,
sipped whiskey. He
saw a horse come up
to the pasture fence.
Otto climbed the fence
& leapt on the horse,
which galloped and tossed
him off. Otto got up,
came back, climbed over,
and sipped more whiskey.
First time
her husband struck her,
she loaded the two kids
and some luggage
in the Chevrolet and drove
away, {No more of that shit,}
she said to her friend.
The old woman
who had fought cancer
for five years lay
in a hospice bed,
comatose--but suddenly
woke--tried to get up
and run away. One last
attempt before
entering the light.
hans ostrom 2024
