February 2026
Elephants and Love
If I have to be an elephant in love, I will.
Saved from the game hunt and set free
to roam in wild grass -
aware the moment your plane takes off
and encircling your house as
a herd of hearts
ready for greeting
and even if forty five years have passed
since the circus of improbability
I would still thunder across
the paddock to you
and run my trunk
across your back
in recognition.
Charlotte Steel is a tech marketer from Aotearoa New Zealand who loves to write about landscapes - internal and external. Her poetry has been published in Landfall, IKA, Starling, and Mayhem.