When young,
you are tickled
with giggle sticks.
Poked and pinched
by playful primate fingers
and lavished with kisses
from fur-covered lips.
Later–
bludgeoned half to death
by the monkeys
in the Public Zoo,
you are taunted
by patriarchal baboons
who despise you
because you’re free.
And they simply
will not tolerate
a rebellious chimpanzee
who recites poetry.
Then–
tempted by a talisman
held in the hand of a man
in an impeccable suit,
you are shocked to discover
that he’s just a gorilla
gorging himself on fruit.
The stench of his excrement
is overpowering
and you realize
that the time has come
for fight or flight.
To hell with Darwin you decide…
this isn’t about
the strongest surviving.
This is about the weak
standing upright.
(Originally published in The Smoking Poet)
More at http://about.me/dklawitter.