I unsubscribed from the world’s

scatter shot awfulness. That’s why

I always seem so out of the loop. 

I scroll the internet strapped. 

Buckled in. Ready to ride out

anything disturbing

to my Cancer quintessence. 

That’s how I nearly missed it, 

the baby elephant. Hanging halfway 

off a steep cliffside. Flailing.

Losing purchase at the edge 

of its dewy mortality. In a 1:00 AM-

WorldStar video, threatening 

to swell or demolish my heart.

& because, dear absent, I have

pictured us as kin, & can sense you

are also a cautious browser, 

allow me to spare you:

the elephant survives. 

Hand to God, an excavator arm 

careens across mountain & sky.

Swoops in like a guardian angel

on wings of yellow steel, lifting 

a giant shovel to the calf’s rear end.

Levitating its hooves & swishing tail 

to higher ground. A glorious green 

forest clearing, where the elephant 

coils its trunk around the machine’s 

arm in a stirring embrace. 

Where I am left to consider 

the confluence of minor miracles 

that rescued me, for a moment,

just then, from an ineffable

persisting despair. A list that includes

nearby construction & diesel. 

Hydraulic lifts, camera phones

& the kindness of strangers.

To say nothing of the magic

algorithm that delivered this sudden

gladness. This unexpected gift

I didn’t know to want for 

until it was offered. That’s what

it felt like. For at least minute, 

peering through the crystal ball

of an ultrasound screen. 

My love’s open palm, shuffled 

in mine. Like a little trick of light. 

Thimblerig. Little elephant

in the room that wasn’t. Vanished

though somehow present.