This granddaddy is
hunchbacked, sail-eared,
flagrantly snouted,
bearded below the lip
like Honest Abe,
antlers splayed
like South Sea palms,
back end too big
for his britches,
a warehouse gut
stuffed with pin cherry,
water lily, and cress,
hairy-legged as
half of a tarantula
but stilted like a pair
of red-crowned cranes
in the Dynasty
of Song.