Sunday, February 8, 2009

unspoken hunger


“As we advance closer and closer, the anticipation of seeing a rhinoceros is like crossing the threshold of a dream. The haze lifts and there they are—two rhinos, male and female, placidly eating grass with prehensile lips…I catch the female’s eye. She does not waver. My vision blurs. Who would kill a rhinoceros? It seems clear that the true aphrodisiac is not found in their horns but in simply knowing they exist.”

- From “An Unspoken Hunger: Stories from the field,” by Terry Tempest Williams.

2 comments:

pickwickianmom said...

Wonder who ever came up with the idea of rhino horns being aphrodisiacs? It's so bizarre.
Rhinos never make me think about sex.....

Stephen Lyn Bales said...

Hello pickwickianmom.

I am afraid males (and perhaps females, but I know more about my own gender than the other) have some pretty bizarre notions about aphrodisiacs.

Tempest also writes about park rangers out west that have to break up buffalo skulls they find in the parks and hide the pieces because looters look for them, smash them and send the powder to Asia to be also used as an aphrodisiac. The rangers are just trying to discourage this dark industry and besides, it's illegal to remove anything from a national park.

Yes, bizarre.