Kate Sutherland
Dürer’s Rhinoceros
Kate Sutherland
I.
In the year our living such a marvel I had to send you this representation made after toad
protected scales large as this comes to fight first whets horn pushing his forelegs then rips
open where skin thinnest therefore fears the rhinoceros he always gores him whenever he
meets an elephant
II.
It is said that great powerful Emanuel represented here complete form live speckled tortoise
covered thick plates like its legs almost invulnerable begins sharpening rocks obstinate
frightened when it encounters stomach throttles down its front legs cannot fend off fast
cunning so there is nothing it can do
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Kate Sutherland is the author of two collections of short stories, Summer Reading and All In Together Girls, but has only recently begun writing poems. She lives in Toronto where she teaches at Osgoode Hall Law School.
Kate Sutherland’s writing is always intriguing, and her poem is no exception.