Russel HirstRussel Hirst has been a professor of English for several decades. He loves fishing and has spent a lot of time on mysterious and glorious rivers. Although he hasn't met any hippos in the wild, he has met all manner of river dwellers who speak to him.br />
The hippo conversation in the poem came to him many years ago as he lounged contentedly in front of a crackling wintertime fire, after a delicious superabundant feast at the beloved home of his youth in Northern California-the land of his awakening into semi-adult consciousness, where his mind has dwelt ever since. Read More Read Less