{"id":5116,"date":"2025-03-25T14:51:17","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T14:51:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/new\/?page_id=5116"},"modified":"2025-03-25T14:52:40","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T14:52:40","slug":"devour-not-the-elephant","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/index.php\/devour-not-the-elephant\/","title":{"rendered":"Devour Not the Elephant"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\">[vc_row css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1742914303900{margin-top: 25px !important;}&#8221;][vc_column]<figure class=\"vcex-image vcex-module wpex-mb-30\"><div class=\"vcex-image-inner wpex-relative wpex-inline-block\"><img width=\"624\" height=\"359\" src=\"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/elephant.jpg\" class=\"vcex-image-img wpex-align-middle\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/elephant.jpg 624w, https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/elephant-300x173.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 624px) 100vw, 624px\" \/><\/div><\/figure><style>.vcex-heading.vcex_6a21c53d79de7{color:#000000;font-size:24px;font-weight:700;}<\/style><h1 class=\"vcex-heading vcex-heading-plain vcex-module wpex-text-balance wpex-heading wpex-text-2xl wpex-mb-0 vcex_6a21c53d79de7\"><span class=\"vcex-heading-inner wpex-inline-block\">Devour Not the Elephant<\/span><\/h1>[vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221; bottom_margin=&#8221;30px&#8221; color=&#8221;#000000&#8243; font_size=&#8221;14px&#8221;]Poaching scene<br \/>\ncrime scene carcasses of<br \/>\ndead rhinos and Savannah elephants<\/p>\n<p>Precious the ivory tusks and horns<br \/>\ncut off severed<\/p>\n<p>Two from a bull<br \/>\nraw and bleeding holes gouged<br \/>\ninto Jumbo&#8217;s face<\/p>\n<p>Swollen infected the wounds<br \/>\nevery day bears the data<\/p>\n<p>Data of body<br \/>\nfeces hair and nails yellowish-white<br \/>\nbones push to the surface<\/p>\n<p>In the green of leaves Earth<br \/>\nAir Fire Water<\/p>\n<p>*<\/p>\n<p>What is property?<br \/>\nproperty is the body Ears Trunk<br \/>\nFeet<\/p>\n<p>The face half-severed precious<br \/>\nthe ivory tusks and horns<\/p>\n<p>Property is the body<br \/>\nmutilated burned Ears Trunk<br \/>\nFeet<\/p>\n<p>Ears like human fingerprints<br \/>\nnone are the same<\/p>\n<p>Flapping their ears<br \/>\nblood circulates in the head<br \/>\nears the shape of Africa<\/p>\n<p>Two long pointed teeth stick out<br \/>\nof the mouth<\/p>\n<p>The trunk is like a human arm<br \/>\nor the fingers of a hand<br \/>\npicking berries<\/p>\n<p>Elephant corpses found drifting<br \/>\nIn a creek yellowish-white bones<\/p>\n<p>Push to the surface<br \/>\nIn the green of leaves Earth<br \/>\nAir Fire Water<\/p>\n<p>What is property? property<br \/>\nis the body a human arm or hand<\/p>\n<p>My mother was sold<br \/>\nfrom me \\when I could<br \/>\nbut crawl<\/p>\n<p>*<\/p>\n<p>Among the stalls<br \/>\npiles of ivory trinkets bangles<br \/>\nand beads<\/p>\n<p>Rows of Ivory carvings<br \/>\nof maidens monks and birds<\/p>\n<p>Carcasses of dead rhinos<br \/>\nand Savannah Elephants carcasses<br \/>\nstripped of their skin<\/p>\n<p>Burned mutilated saleable parts<br \/>\nhacked off<\/p>\n<p>Ears Trunk Feet<br \/>\nthe horns and tusks ground up<br \/>\nmy body the bread my blood the wine<\/p>\n<p>*<\/p>\n<p>Disturbingly informative<br \/>\nan elephant savaged by poachers<\/p>\n<p>Poison in the rivers<br \/>\npoison in the arrow heads following<br \/>\nthe dying animal around<\/p>\n<p>Following the dying animal around<br \/>\nevery day bears the data<\/p>\n<p>Data of body body of data<br \/>\nproperty is the body mutilated burned<br \/>\ncarnal\/spiritual<\/p>\n<p>In the green of leaves Earth<br \/>\nAir Fire Water<\/p>\n<p>The elephant is a nonpredatory mammal, a sensate being.<br \/>\nThe poem intersects body and spirit \u2014 elephant desire,<br \/>\nwith the function of marketing, production, distribution<br \/>\nand exchange of elephant and rhino body parts by human<br \/>\npredators.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1742914303900{margin-top: 25px !important;}&#8221;][vc_column][vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221; bottom_margin=&#8221;30px&#8221; color=&#8221;#000000&#8243; font_size=&#8221;14px&#8221;]Poaching scene crime scene carcasses of dead rhinos and Savannah elephants Precious the ivory tusks and horns cut off severed Two from a bull raw and bleeding holes gouged into Jumbo&#8217;s face Swollen infected the wounds every day bears the data Data of body feces hair and nails&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5116","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry","no-media"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.8.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Devour Not the Elephant - American Poet and Playwright<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/index.php\/devour-not-the-elephant\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Devour Not the Elephant - American Poet and Playwright\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[vc_row css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1742914303900{margin-top: 25px !important;}&#8221;][vc_column][vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221; bottom_margin=&#8221;30px&#8221; color=&#8221;#000000&#8243; font_size=&#8221;14px&#8221;]Poaching scene crime scene carcasses of dead rhinos and Savannah elephants Precious the ivory tusks and horns cut off severed Two from a bull raw and bleeding holes gouged into Jumbo&#8217;s face Swollen infected the wounds every day bears the data Data of body feces hair and nails&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/index.php\/devour-not-the-elephant\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Poet and Playwright\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-25T14:52:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/index.php\/devour-not-the-elephant\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/index.php\/devour-not-the-elephant\/\",\"name\":\"Devour Not the Elephant - American Poet and Playwright\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-25T14:51:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-25T14:52:40+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/index.php\/devour-not-the-elephant\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/index.php\/devour-not-the-elephant\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/index.php\/devour-not-the-elephant\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Devour Not the Elephant\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/\",\"name\":\"Rochelle Owens\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/#\/schema\/person\/a0ff66cdff3a23ede8b25ba2edceb6f7\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/#\/schema\/person\/a0ff66cdff3a23ede8b25ba2edceb6f7\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/8ef074e770a0b1fdf1cf3af8953d0938.jpg?ver=1780332458\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/8ef074e770a0b1fdf1cf3af8953d0938.jpg?ver=1780332458\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/new\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Devour Not the Elephant - American Poet and Playwright","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/index.php\/devour-not-the-elephant\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Devour Not the Elephant - American Poet and Playwright","og_description":"[vc_row css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1742914303900{margin-top: 25px !important;}&#8221;][vc_column][vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221; bottom_margin=&#8221;30px&#8221; color=&#8221;#000000&#8243; font_size=&#8221;14px&#8221;]Poaching scene crime scene carcasses of dead rhinos and Savannah elephants Precious the ivory tusks and horns cut off severed Two from a bull raw and bleeding holes gouged into Jumbo&#8217;s face Swollen infected the wounds every day bears the data Data of body feces hair and nails&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/index.php\/devour-not-the-elephant\/","og_site_name":"American Poet and Playwright","article_modified_time":"2025-03-25T14:52:40+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/index.php\/devour-not-the-elephant\/","url":"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/index.php\/devour-not-the-elephant\/","name":"Devour Not the Elephant - American Poet and Playwright","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-03-25T14:51:17+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-25T14:52:40+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/index.php\/devour-not-the-elephant\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/index.php\/devour-not-the-elephant\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/index.php\/devour-not-the-elephant\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Devour Not the Elephant"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/#website","url":"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/","name":"Rochelle Owens","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/#\/schema\/person\/a0ff66cdff3a23ede8b25ba2edceb6f7"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/#\/schema\/person\/a0ff66cdff3a23ede8b25ba2edceb6f7","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/8ef074e770a0b1fdf1cf3af8953d0938.jpg?ver=1780332458","contentUrl":"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/8ef074e770a0b1fdf1cf3af8953d0938.jpg?ver=1780332458","caption":"admin"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/new"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5116"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5127,"href":"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5116\/revisions\/5127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rochelleowens.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}