Every night teacup elephants
emerge from my mother’s grave.
I love their dopey gait, that sway
like paper boats lumbering downriver.
The rapping of their feet like china
trembling at passing trains.
One by one I pick them up
and smash them on the ground.
My plan is to gather the pieces
and build a bigger grief.
One too big to squeeze
through death’s little stone door.
I will ride it around town
like the Emperor of Weeping.
What a good son! people will say.
Just look at his bandaged hands.
***
Todd Dillard‘s work has appeared in numerous publications, including Hobart After Dark, Barrelhouse, Sixth Finch, The Offing, and The Adroit Journal. His debut collection of poetry “Ways We Vanish” was a finalist for the 2020 Balcones poetry prize.
***
image: MM Kaufman
Rejection Letters 