print previewback GRAHAM HILLARD
Oldest Squirrel Monkey in Captivity
Huntsville, Alabama
It is impossible not to think of you
as mindful of the body they have
taken, living tribute whose every hour
affirms our genius. Nor to dredge
the muck-strewn lake of your eyes
for evidence of what you have witnessed:
how the ground tipped away from you
as the rocket leapt skyward, the world
reversing itself, cleaving branch from tree,
earth from stone into a wholly separate
being. Returned, you are emeritus,
ornamental, yet luminous as one who is
transfigured, secured in it by what
we might so easily mistake for joy. 
Oldest Squirrel Monkey in Captivity
The Polygrapher