A known killer crocodile Flaubert strikes fear into the hearts of the villagers because its immense size having eaten many people hunters want to catch it alive 72 metallic pieces comprise the puzzle a trap cage that will catch the beast which only a few have seen it is said tufts of grass grow from its head hunters search the mud banks of the vast delta into the heart of darkness junkies search between bamboo slime where concealed as a mud bank they find it a necklace of terrible teeth in the clay a flat plain empty as the night a hole that holds you in its sight maws that tear flesh of even hippopotamus it appears to be more than 100 but teeth reckon it 60 still growing a cow's head is placed inside the trap but Flaubert does not take the bait a white spot beads the infra red night Flaubert's eye that nightly visits the villagers say he's a familiar under the spell of an evil person which must be broken in the midst of their efforts meanwhile Flaubert strikes again yet another human is rent limb from limb the hunter's plan is not working they must find a new technology to capture this exceptional creature before it strikes again Flaubert is sighted holding up on a high delta plain where nothing escapes its watchful eye below they struggle to set up hydraulic cable traps this time they use live bait a goat but Flaubert is never fooled the hunters are baffled the waiting continues Flaubert springs the trap snatches the goat the hunters' time has run out Flaubert disappears into delta slime & the villagers wait
Robin Ouzman Hislop is on line Editor at Poetry Life & Times at Artvilla.com. His numerous appearances include Cold Mountain Review (Appalachian University, N.Carolina), The Honest Ulsterman, Cratera No 3 and Aquillrelle’s Best. His publications are collected poems All the Babble of the Souk, Cartoon Molecules, Next Arrivals & Moon Selected Audio Textual Poems. A translation from Spanish of poems by Guadalupe Grande Key of Mist and Carmen Crespo Tesserae, the award winning (X111 Premio César Simón De Poesía), in November 2017 these works were presented in a live performance at The International Writer’s Conference hosted by the University of Leeds. UK. A forthcoming publication of collected poems Off the Menu is expected in 2020
You may visit Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop about author. See Robin performing his work Performance (University of Leeds)