Flaubert An AudioTextual Poem by Robin Ouzman Hislop

 

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)