I am animal.
I am animal; I eat and drink, without glutting.
I am animal; I play without destroying.
I am animal; I wander without marauding.
I am animal; sunrise, moonrise and star-rise chronicle me.
Animal animal animal echoes,
I am animal; trapped.
I am animal; bleeding.
Sunrise, moonrise, and star-rise console me.
Sunrise, moonrise, and star-rise farewell me.
I am animal; dying.
I
i
--
J-NinetyFourth
((j-9t4th))
Author's Notes/Comments:
At the time I wrote this, I was taking to AP English classes, one about Gothic Literature and one about Nineteenth Century British Literature. The teacher and the Juniors and Seniors seemed to resent that I, the only sophomore in the classes, had been approved for AP participation, on the basis of my Freshman GPR. Kim D---, a Junior, demonstrated the fiercest ferocity and resentment toward me. I wrote this in response to that. I had been quite excited and enthusiastic that the last novel we were to read was Frankenstein; which, two days before we were scheduled to begin, was removed from the syllabus in favor of a more contemporary novel of horror (and many expletives and perverse concepts), without explanation. The following summer, I learned that our teacher, while visiting a local farm, had stepped on a rusted nail; and that mis-step drove the nail entirely through his foot, requiring both surgery and a sequence of Tetanus shots. I was not able to feel sorry for him, or to pray for his recovery. During my senior year, when I served as TA to the Chairman of the English Department, I was able to express a silent, but very discernable, contempt toward him.
