Emerging Poet Award Finalist: “The Rubbing of Coco’s Sole” by Fran Markover

The Rubbing of Coco’s Sole

                            From the elephant’s footprint on parchment,

                     Zimbabwe takes shape: safaris to kopjes and farm-

                 land, granite outcrop and plateau. A tourist rides in her

                jeep, ivory teardrop on her neck. Sun rays bejewel, 

            dangle toward thick skins of the animals thundering near 

              the masasa trees. Elephant paths wend toward lifeblood

                waters. I think of the rubbing tacked onto my friend’s

                 wall, the sole of an elephant’s foot. His immense

                  presence, eye that is ocean, the rivulets down his

                    face, family groupings. A name scripted onto the 

                    hanging: Coco, Elephant Camp, Victoria Falls, June 

                      19th, 2007. The hoof’s bottom an intricate mandala:

                        Rorschach blots, charcoaled florets. Ridges and

                         smudges foretell topography, heft. How might 

                           it be to enter his habitat, listen as his trunk, 

                             pendulum’s brush-music, comforts offspring,

                               breathes, muscles by what remains of wood-

                                 land-veld-mosaic. The frottage looms, its 

                                     own land mass yellowed against framed

                                       glass as if I could touch Coco’s leg, his

                                           toes like stones that once pressed

                                                 against parched red earth.

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EMERGING POET AWARD FINALIST “The Rubbing of Coco’s Sole”

Fran Markover is a poet from Ithaca, NY. She writes narratives of her personal family as well as the sacred family around her: plants, animals, the environment. She's been writing poems for over 3 decades. Her poem, "The Rubbing of Coco's Sole," reflects her sorrow and empathy for our earthly neighbors with whom we share our planet.