There
will be animals to teach us
what we can’t teach ourselves.
what we can’t teach ourselves.
There will be a baboon who is neither stupid nor clumsy
as he paints his mandrill face for the war being waged
against his jungle.
as he paints his mandrill face for the war being waged
against his jungle.
There will be egrets in a few thousand years
who will have evolved without plumes so we cannot take them.
who will have evolved without plumes so we cannot take them.
There will be ewes giving and giving their wool
compensating for what we lack in humility.
compensating for what we lack in humility.
There will be macaws with short arched bills
that stay short because they talk without telling lies.
that stay short because they talk without telling lies.
Mackerel will continue to appear near Cape Hatteras each spring
and swim north into Canadian waters so there can be continuity.
and swim north into Canadian waters so there can be continuity.
There will be penguins keeping alive Hollywood’s golden era.
The chaparral cock will continue to outdistance man
twisting and turning on a path unconcerned with shortcuts.
twisting and turning on a path unconcerned with shortcuts.
Coffin fly dun will leave the Shawsheen River
heading for the lights of Lawrence. What they see in 48 hours
makes them adults who will fast for the rest of their short lives,
mating once during the next hour and understanding everything
as they drop into a communal grave three feet thick with family
reaching the same conclusions.
heading for the lights of Lawrence. What they see in 48 hours
makes them adults who will fast for the rest of their short lives,
mating once during the next hour and understanding everything
as they drop into a communal grave three feet thick with family
reaching the same conclusions.
The coast horned lizard still won’t be found
without a bag of tricks; it will inflate and the first
of six million Jewfish will emerge from its mouth.
We will all be richer.
without a bag of tricks; it will inflate and the first
of six million Jewfish will emerge from its mouth.
We will all be richer.
John Dory will replace John Doe
so the nameless among us will have Peter’s thumbmark on their cheek
and the coin the saint pulled from their mouths in their pockets.
Then once and for all we will know it is no illusion:
the lion lying with the lamb, the grandmother and Little Red Riding Hood
walking out of a wolf named Dachau.
so the nameless among us will have Peter’s thumbmark on their cheek
and the coin the saint pulled from their mouths in their pockets.
Then once and for all we will know it is no illusion:
the lion lying with the lamb, the grandmother and Little Red Riding Hood
walking out of a wolf named Dachau.
Published 1990. Interesting the way the poem moves from obvious polemic about the harm we do to individual species, to surrealism that seems at least partly based around the harm we do to one another. It's as if the feel-good comforts of concern about animal rights are slowly being pulled away from us... and what's left?
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