In my house there lived a
rhinoceros named Past-
He was my daddy's pet.
His favorite time
(he could be so quiet)
was late at night in the kitchen,
with my dad, lights off
the warm orange glow
of cigarettes between them
Past and my dad, a case of beer.
Just the two of them, whispering,
the streetlight for company-
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William Gillard teaches writing and literature at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, NJ. His poetry, fiction, and scholarly essays have appeared in such publications as Leading Edge, Surprising Stories, Spitball, Dictionary of Literary Biography, and The Encyclopedia of Native American Literature |