by Julia Griffin

For Maria

“Elk finally liberated from car tire stuck around its neck for 2 years”
—Live Science

The elks of Colorado
Know well what rotten luck
Turned incommunicado
A once-audacious buck

Who tossed his horns with relish,
For elkdom to admire;
The proudest life turns hellish
When collared by a tire.

Two years he shunned the herd and
Lay low where none could see;
At last he’s been de-burdened,
His neck unchafed and free,

But as for his bravado,
’Twill never be the same:
They know, in Colorado:
He wore the Tire of Shame.