Maureen Thorson’s NaPoWriMo prompt: “I’d like to challenge you today to write a poem about an animal."
Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-a-Day “Two for Tuesday” prompt: “write a free poem” and/or “write a not free poem.”
I remember feeling, as a child, that animals in zoos seemed sad and maybe a little crazy from being incarcerated without hope of parole. Melding all three prompts again today in a meditation exploring this theme.
Freedom Is Relative
In the San Diego Zoo, the lions, kangaroos,
mandrills, flamingos, penguins live in cageless
habitats — savannahs, rain forests, canyons,
even an urban jungle — while we humans
observe them from tour buses and a gondola lift
called the Skyfari. So who’s free and who’s not?
The animals seem to be free and humans not,
constrained to vehicles or concealed in blinds.
But then the animals are not really free to roam
as they would in their native spaces; elephants
cannot migrate hundreds of miles like in Africa.
We Homo sapiens can exit the zoo and go home
to our condos and TVs. But are we ever really
free? The Malayan tiger behind viewing glass
may be more free in her mind than any of us
ever are or can be, with our jobs and taxes and
encroaching corporations piping crude oil
through our wild places and our backyards.
Politicians reaching their sketchy small hands
into our wallets, classrooms, and bedrooms.
In San Diego, giant pandas have been breeding
successfully: seven cubs in the last 20 years,
fat and happy among 40 varieties of bamboo.
Plus 18 types of eucalyptus for the koalas.
So I ask you again, who’s free and who’s not?
—Draft by Vince Gotera [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.]
Visitors to San Diego Zoo on a safari truck
interacting with giraffes in their open habitat.
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2 comments:
I love the ironies you've woven into this one. I really enjoyed it.
(BTW, I've also really enjoyed your new book. Great poems, and I like the premise of it. I was inspired to go through my canon and see which of my poems were the best for each day of PAD in the last ten years. There would be some hard choices for some days, and others would be a no-brainer. Still others, I'd be hard-pressed to find one I liked enough to include in a collection - the first poem of each month in particular. Anyway, great job on the book, and thanks for the heartfelt message, my friend.)
Thanks, Bruce. Glad you enjoyed it. In some cases, there were two or three strong contenders for a particular day and then not-so-strong ones for other days.
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