Something of a laugh,
Did you know the name ‘giraffe’
Is good to go for single and plural?
These things make me question
Whether I was ever informed.
Don’t be daft – we always knew
The hide was like a turtle, in
Young a smudgy brown,
In adult the white interweb
Gets more distinguished, the
Lines sharpen, in the web-netting
Of the giraffe. We always saw
Their seahorse faces, but with
Soft mouths mouthing flatly
The leaves they, kings and queens
Of height, eat on their path.
Always knew we their heaven’s eyes
Looking down from on high,
Highest of any animals like we’d
Be perusing the sky. What
A laugh! That we didn’t know
The tallest males, in their
Finest-distinguished chainmail,
In their brushed cotton patchworks,
Were not so gentle giants when it comes
To a battle for the female.
Giraffe, that is, two adult males
(‘Giraffe’ – what a laugh!) will swing
Their strong necks like wrecking balls,
Slamming into one another, til
One’s proven his craft!
animal
The Tortoise Is Not Big
The tortoise is not big,
Or even heavy;
He is still.
Still as stones,
His shell of bone
So hard but sensitive.
It bruises, bleeds, the keratin
Is the magnificent excess of
The same that is our fingernails.
If a ‘shell’; if you don’t think that it
Is so very much a part of him,
Think ‘why a shell?’; what animals
Do you know with a ‘shell’?
The weight of ocean molluscs
Is with him; the animal
That is shell, is ocean, ocean stone,
So still, the weight of ocean, land,
And time is with him.
Kinship With Koalas
We call on our kinship with koalas
Our complicity in this fiery Kaos
We call on rain, teeming rain
Buckets of rain raining down in Australia.
We call on our reptilian brain
Eons of time in evolutionary training
To call on our kinship with Koala
And other great nations of the Australian.
The Kangaroo and Wallaby, the Cassowary
And Emu, the other frightened nations
Of the Great Australian plains and forests
Calling on their eons of time and training.
We call on our kinship with koalas
Our complicity in the fiery Kaos
We call on rain, teeming rain, tears
And compassion for our Australian kin.
3-1-2020
Cat Grazing
Getting up early
Placing the chair where
I can witness for once (out of bed)
“The Arrival of the Ducks”
(followed by the pair of doves).
Scattering the cat biscuits
Far and wide like
I am sowing seed in the dawning light
When arrives Frodo the Cat
Who softly, with surprise, grazes.
11-7-19
The Lounging Cheetah
The lounging cheetah
at the zoo.
I notice in the shadowed
corridor before the glass
I prowl…
Well, I walked up and down
to see his face
And suddenly realized
it was a prowl…
Now he’s standing up,
like a dog, perfectly still.
Dear Elephant At The Zoo
Dear elephant at the zoo.
I am so sorry for you.
I can sense the loss of your beauty,
Even as the beauty of your
Inner beauty remains.
I apologize for these humans.
Then I suddenly imagine
What it might be like if
She was a she and a mother,
And she had children
Similarly sold into slavery.
The Only Animal At The Zoo
Oh what a vision
Looking to my right
The elephants are the only
Animals at the zoo
That get a fully large
Place to get out of sight
Of the humans.
Serving Kangaroo At The Zoo
Serving kangaroo
at the zoo.
Meat – burgers and pies –
at the non-vegan cafe.
Apparently they don’t get
the irony.
South American Macaw
South American Macaw,
Chrome yellow belly & chest
With royal blue wings & tail.
Well, then there’s that green
In the sheen of his shoulders,
The still-smooth feathers on his crest
And under his jaw.
Alligator Skeleton
Alligator skeleton swims
With his arms back:
The original and primal
Homo sapiens in his element.
