Poetry | Journal

a chimpanzee breaks free from her keep
of menagerie walls to roam war-torn streets.

little could she know, the state of decay
beyond the display. habitable jungle? continents away,

the zoologist though, without a qualm from cautionary stories,
“keeper’s face torn off by chimp” type inflammatory

sensationalization, didn’t have to suggest much or ask;
when the rain started, she offered the jacket from her back

and the creature slipped her cold wet arms into the yellow sleeves
like a cartoon, agreeing, it was best to go with them to safety,

this zoo was meant to be temporary anyway,
evacuated from their home by the military.

first they shared a hug, and then helped the great ape onto a bike
for a ride past reporters and cameras until they were back inside.

how did it ever become heartwarming to watch a creature choose confined
existence? It’s these moments in banality that tug on my mind

caught somewhere between a sucker for a good story and deeply cynical.
It’s too poetic for the universe to give us this living metaphor, so hypocritical

humans and the audacity to fight over our streets
so we can get back to imprisoning mother earth’s creatures in peace.

worse even had we not, the fate they would befall
the bastards killed those who did not evacuate, every last animal.