The Human Zoo

Welcome to the human zoo, where lions
have no sense of pride, gazelles are graceful
as gnu, hyenas cry and peacocks
hide, elephants are long forgotten, mice
have allergies to dairy, monkeys slouch
in jogging bottoms, ants are lazy, bees
contrary, vultures host a smorgasbord,
owls look stupid in dark glasses, spiders
spin their silken cord – nooses for death watch
beetles – while time passes slow as worms and
dull as dingoes, penguins march in line with
lemmings, straight like snakes in a quiver of
arrows, to break down fences hemming them
in: Cheetahs know they will never prosper.