---
title: Serengeti
genre: verse

project:
    title: Elegies for alternate selves
    css: elegies
    order: 20
    prev:
    - title: The mountain
      link: mountain
    next:
    - title: The shipwright
      link: shipwright
...

The self is a serengeti \
a wide grassland with baobab trees \
reaching their roots deep into earth \
like a child into a clay pot \
A wind blows there or seems to blow \
if he holds it up to his ear the air shifts \
like stones in a stream uncovering a crawfish \
it finds another hiding place watching you \
Its eyes are blacker than wind \
on the serengeti they are the [eyes of a predator][formal] \
they are coming toward you or receding \
a storm cloud builds on the horizon \
Are you [running][] toward the rain or away from it \
Do you stand still and crouch hoping for silence

[formal]: onformalpoetry.html
[running]: squirrel.html