Black rhino

there's no sound
so beautiful as my footfall 
in the dark / sound of myself / alone
milky light hits my tusk / the only touch
I permit / when I stand near the rocks
I am a rock
the earth and I 
steady circle onward / I’ve never
hit anyone / never / committed violence 
against my own species / sitting here
Christmas music blasting / little blonde
children running into my legs 
I would like / the joy
of solitude / not the wanting 
of your hand close enough to touch wine
in your parent’s living room / sliding 
home on the ice / there’s no creature
more violent to itself than me / if I saw a reflection
I would paw the black dirt / white light
tuck my armored chin I’d
charge

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Jaya Stenquist is a writer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her work has been featured or is forthcoming in The Rumpus, Mid American, West Branch Wired, and in English and Icelandic in ICEVIEW. She is currently developing the poetry program for Vermillion Ink Press, a collective dedicated to increasing representation in independent publishing.