Megafauna
Katja Jackson
You used to enchant me,
woolly mammoth baby.
Now you’re brand new,
feet soft on the boulevard.
I heard explorers cut a steak,
that they savored the bite.
This happened to me—
I was alive.
The buildings make you wail—
There are no giant bears,
no scimitar cats.
There are no wildflowers
for you to eat.
The scientists give you ice cream.
They give you dry ramen noodles.
They make a big woolly puppet
and hide their faces.
You find a map of the Arctic—
You get on a bus.
woolly mammoth baby.
Now you’re brand new,
feet soft on the boulevard.
I heard explorers cut a steak,
that they savored the bite.
This happened to me—
I was alive.
The buildings make you wail—
There are no giant bears,
no scimitar cats.
There are no wildflowers
for you to eat.
The scientists give you ice cream.
They give you dry ramen noodles.
They make a big woolly puppet
and hide their faces.
You find a map of the Arctic—
You get on a bus.
Katja Jackson is an artist from the Washington, D.C. area. She has work published in Trace Fossils Review and The Broadkill Review. Find her on Instagram @xtreewomanx.