Where Elephants Dance



The man in the five-piece DeLorean outfit
Stares out of his office window
Wears gabardine attitudes with silk style
Crushed velour clings loyally to his arm
“Call me Imitation Velvet” she quips
But her eyes are twice-removed from her smile

Herds trudge by on streets, dragging trunks
Briefcases full of heavy artillery
Baggage to burden a bear
They enter their yards on heavy flat feet
Home at last, drop themselves with their trunks
Closed eyes roll back into the easy chair

They say you may saddle a winged dream
But down here, even crows don’t fly
Here lies the corporate boneyard
The place where dreams go to die

It seems I’ve grown too large to fit within
The confines of your profit margin
I don’t pay no union blues
For tired, dirty, old grey walls
Or seven-foot ceilings I can’t reach
On my tiptoes in platform shoes

They say you may find success perchance
You should find the place where elephants dance
But fables are filled with that stuff
What you think is stardust poured from the horn
Of some magical, mystical unicorn
Might just be criminal dandruff

They say you may saddle a winged dream
But down here, even crows don’t fly
Here lies the corporate boneyard
The place where dreams go to die

Once, promises sparkled, the eyes of a whore
Candlelight dancing in crystal wine-glasses
Now the eyes of God shine clear through the day
Where once I clutched at feathered pillows
I leave down behind, where the skeletons
Like fallen white marble dominoes lay

I hover above the disarray
Gaze into where silk suits hang limp
Where people don’t look into each others’ lies
Elephants dance, pachyderms pretty in pink
They’ll not admit to each other they see them
Because visions are lies in a prostitute’s eyes
 
They say you may saddle a winged dream
But only in cartoons do elephants fly
Down there lies the corporate boneyard
The place where dreams go to die

 © John Kennan, 1995
Font size:
Collection  PDF     
 

Submitted by rankstranger7 on May 24, 2021

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:40 min read
8

Quick analysis:

Scheme axbxxb cxdxcd EFAF xghxxh iijkkj EFAF xxlxxl lxmxxm EfaF g
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,859
Words 333
Stanzas 10
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 4, 6, 6, 4, 6, 6, 4, 1

Discuss the poem Where Elephants Dance with the community...

0 Comments

    Translation

    Find a translation for this poem in other languages:

    Select another language:

    • - Select -
    • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
    • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
    • Español (Spanish)
    • Esperanto (Esperanto)
    • 日本語 (Japanese)
    • Português (Portuguese)
    • Deutsch (German)
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • Français (French)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
    • 한국어 (Korean)
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Gaeilge (Irish)
    • Українська (Ukrainian)
    • اردو (Urdu)
    • Magyar (Hungarian)
    • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
    • Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Italiano (Italian)
    • தமிழ் (Tamil)
    • Türkçe (Turkish)
    • తెలుగు (Telugu)
    • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
    • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
    • Čeština (Czech)
    • Polski (Polish)
    • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Românește (Romanian)
    • Nederlands (Dutch)
    • Ελληνικά (Greek)
    • Latinum (Latin)
    • Svenska (Swedish)
    • Dansk (Danish)
    • Suomi (Finnish)
    • فارسی (Persian)
    • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
    • հայերեն (Armenian)
    • Norsk (Norwegian)
    • English (English)

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this poem to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "Where Elephants Dance" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/100816/where-elephants-dance>.

    Become a member!

    Join our community of poets and poetry lovers to share your work and offer feedback and encouragement to writers all over the world!

    March 2024

    Poetry Contest

    Join our monthly contest for an opportunity to win cash prizes and attain global acclaim for your talent.
    2
    days
    12
    hours
    52
    minutes

    Special Program

    Earn Rewards!

    Unlock exciting rewards such as a free mug and free contest pass by commenting on fellow members' poems today!

    Browse Poetry.com

    Quiz

    Are you a poetry master?

    »
    "Now I become myself. It's taken time, many years and places."
    A Rita Dove
    B W.H. Auden
    C May Sarton
    D Robert Frost