Hippo
Sewn out of cotton flannel dyed and printed by me
Meant to camouflage with a particular spot on a particular staircase next to a particular building
If you listen closely, the hippo might be saying something like this:
“Time is wet and goopy and viscous
All the people passing quickly displace the water
and some of it hits the little time hippo
and its skin shines for a moment before returning to its stony state
The little hippo often speaks but it usually comes out as a low murmur
no louder than the breeze ricocheting off of the walls surrounding the stairwell
The hippo has no riddles
nor puzzles
nor prophecies
But it likes to sit in the shadowy staircase
Clinging to the comfort of the rocky wall
Soaking in its solitude
And watching as the sun hits the terrace from all sorts of strange angles
People always pass so quickly
practically tripping over themselves
racing against nothing and whatnot
The little hippo wonders if it's fun to move that fast
And to let everything in the atmosphere hit you all at once
and to eat and yell and work and stomp and romp
and to rumble down every set of stairs you see
But the little hippo enjoys the still slowness
Slow as ever still
of staring at a wall
and doing nothing at all.”