The Hippopotamus

they are said to be the most violent animals in the world
their jaws can close over a man’s head and snap it off
their bodies move unusually fast as if they are smaller
but they are not smaller their mass is extravagant
when they move through the water

          the water moves aside

not for religious reasons but because there’s no place to go
but aside when a leathered tank goes slopping forward
you will go left and you will go right and you will go away
their heads swing open like jewelry boxes
but there is no jewelry inside, only teeth the size of small fists
not pointed the way a panther’s fangs are pointed
blunt, even, but when the jaw swings shut whatever’s there
is riven into pieces -- what is inside the mouth and out

what is inside swallowed whole what is outside left to rot

still, i confess that i love the hippopotamus, with its tendencies
towards unwarranted violence who has not wanted
without reason to destroy everything
that was unnecessary to his happiness? who has not wanted
a jaw so vast it could fit the head of an enemy between its grasp?
who has not wanted to force the river out of its bank?
to be feared by the clumsy? to jostle muddily around?
who has not wanted not to be afraid?