Dan Chiasson, "The Elephant (III)"

When he hit me square on the head I said Better to die
this way than in obscurity, on the empty plain.

A heron and a hawk, a monkey carrying a monkey skull,
a lion on fire and a pack of eyeless wolves

were what I feared, my rib cage rocking to and fro
in the sun, in the wind, all day and night, a dinghy

anchored in rough seas. Not this: my body a sack of
garbage, hooves bound, the world turned upside down.

This is a beautiful country, said John Brown on his way
to the gallows, I have not cast my eyes o’er it before –

that is, in this direction. And I said, What a beautiful banquet,
I am honored to contribute. They cleaned my skull

with pulverized mica for their cornucopia: those were
my eye sockets overflowing with black grapes, herrings

lying in piles of their own, jewel-like, dewlike roe
made the the crown of my head, and the bride was beautiful.

~

From Natural History (2005)

Another slight cheat, as "The Elephant (II)" suggests that this poem is set in Ethiopia - but Africa nonetheless.

(More on Dan Chiasson: http://www.randomhouse.com/author/results.pperl?authorid=67498)