Jan Laurens Siesling

How the Rhino Lost its Horn & Other Just So Songs Jan Laurens Siesling

In the disguise of innocent and traditional looking rhymed little stories, the poems tell in quasi childish tone about the cruel world of trafficking, poaching and other fatal abuse of animals, where elephants and pangolins, bears and tigers are threatened with extinction. The unhopeful mood is expressed with sad irony and sometimes black humor, but also tenderness and sincere love of animals. The target audience is the idealistic teenager and the educated young adult, the age group that doesn't ask for a happy ending and isn't afraid of facing the harsh reality brought by man; the young people who have decided to save the earth from the devastation that comes with the money economy, new technology, poverty, overpopulation and more, of which our animals are the first victims.

However, this is not propaganda, not politics, not moralizing; it is poetry, with its many layers and pleasures. After a while one can't help but quoting lines from here by heart.