Highlands Gorilla at Zoo
The gorilla at Memphis zoo
And they call us animals
Those who peer and stare
Making noises to draw attention
To us? or to themselves?
Can you just look?
Leave us where we live
To build a nest every day
Confinement strips us of dignity
A stately beast we quietly adapt
But one day
Hu-mans will stand behind the bars
As we peer and stare and belittle
Imaginary Garden With Real Toads
21 comments:
That would be justice! Great poem!
Justice for sure and we wouldn't like it either.
now we are thinking planet of the apes, right? them out us in. yikes. one of these guys through his crap in my face in a zoo and i never liked them since.
Hmmmm. I would much rather they stay there behind the bars, than me! Although it does seem a bit indignant for them.
I don't much like zoos for this very reason.
Poor fella- makes one wonder- who is caged and who is free? Have a nice weekend, Gail. We are expecting more rain..which I cannot gripe about since we were in a drought five seconds ago.
Can you say Rise of the Planet of the Apes?
I don't think the apes would ever do that to us... they rather just leave us and be left alone.
Oh my, I would not want to be behind the bars. Cute photos!
Hmmm. Somewhat disturbing, Gail. But I guess that was your point.
Chimps, apes, and monkeys are on different endangered species lists. Hard to reckon where they should go..there or here.
The Gorilla part of the San Diego Park is always fascinating, esp. when the silverback has enough of gaping people. Last time he threw massive amounts of excrement at the audience. Amazingly good aim.
What a profound and beautiful poem. My husband once said that nothing is sadder than seeing a gorilla in a zoo.
I hope we wise up before then. Animals have feelings ..they grieve, and they love...and much, much more.
Just desserts for them could come, but not likely.
So most are resigned to please their captors and visitors. Like this one I found caged in Guatamola:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=asGhCioHqow
..
I think I know which ones the animals are! :)
I do so often wonder what the animals think when we do stare and point at them at zoos ...?
Good choice of photo's and good words too.
All the best Jan
Great poem . . . left me thinking . , .
This takes me back to the scene at the monkey cage in Robert Heinlein's novel "Stranger In A Strange Land" that left a lasting impression on me so many years ago. I understand that animals in captivity teach us about them, and of course they live longer and receive far better care than their wild counterparts, but I still can't help but imagine how much happier they would be to live out their lives as nature intended. I do wonder how we would fare under such daily scrutiny. I can see a cage of humans, spending their hours with smartphones in their hands... oh, wait, that's what we see now! ;-)
powerful write on that zoo animals.
That would certainly serve as justice. We become the caged animals we mocked, confined, abused.
Yes it was definitely disconcerting. I looked into her eyes and she looked into mine quickly. They really don't stare for long. I reached over to my 7 year old son and hugged him and kissed his cheek. She really watched me do that.
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