A Poem: Zoo

        

                    Zoo

I’ve heard tell of real animals at the zoo

Wild creatures that roar and squeak and gnaw bamboo.

 

But instead of zebras, I get zip lines.

Instead of tamarins, only Tarzan vines.

 

No lumbering bears, just an oversized burrow.

Pudgy hippos?  Filthy warthogs?  Yeah, zero. 

 

The only lemurs and meerkats I see

Are on the zoo  marquee.                                                                    

 

No mountain goats or bounding gazelle--

The only hooves I spot are on the carousel.

 

Wild animals at the zoo?  Phew, let’s see…

I seem to have given birth to three!

 

During Winter Quarter, when I was taking my last class for my literacy endorsement, the professor gave us an option of trading one of our weekly posts for an original poem or story, and a February trip to the zoo inspired my little ditty (which I am enormously proud of, by the way). 

We had the opportunity to meet up with Island friends today at the zoo—6.5 hours and very few animals and lots and lots of play, the usual ratio for my kids.