Around 1840 it was considered elegant to take a tortoise out
walking. This gives us an idea of the tempo of flânerie.
—Walter Benjamin
In the 1840s elegance was walking
your tortoise on a leash
My youngest had a pet ant
and then ate it by mistake
After their wedding reception
my parents found an ocelot
with a bow around her neck
which was not a metaphor
as my mother thought but
actually a gift from my uncle
whom it later tried to maul
(which is maybe the metaphor)
My husband heard this lore
and wondered where one
purchases such a gift as though
the world is hiding from him
Wild animal shops or places
ants are up for adoption
Just what leash would fit a tortoise?
When our friend’s tortoise
ran away (slipped from flower
bed to God knows where)
our friends cried and my husband
laughed but then formed
a search party—sticks and lights
flickering in the summer woods
Two days later the neighbors
found their animal three streets away
and my husband, guilty
for his laughter, designed
a tortoise run—suction cup, wire
The stuff of comic books,
of futurist antiquities
The public elegance of
contained creatures.