zoos, oh zoology
rushing torrents of strollers
electric guitars on stage
like a run through an airport
connecting flights the cotton
candy, elephant ears, snow
cones, all bundled up in diaper
rash, daddies saying stupid
things about polar bears
this is conveyor belt
consumption, a zoo-like
snow globe planet
everything wrong — sun
bear next to black bear
gibbons caged, elephants
mulling around arthritic
polar bears hairless
kids and no-nothings
rushing through like
methed-out contributors to
a game of eating, spending, agnotology
these zoos are anti-places, prisons
of higher spirituality, even geckos
hold more sentient-weight
than selfie-wielding families
zoo planet, eco-tours, zip lines
rafting trips behind the dam
the cotton candy and cheeseburgers
the weight of the soul
Homo Sapiens, Gargantuan
Consumo-pithecus, Retail-horrobulis
not one conceptualization, save
for the girl in wheelchair
dystrophy or CP, tears watching
tigers leave her gaze
she wants to stay, commune
but mother pushes her, talks of gift
shop, beat the traffic, dinner at Old Spaghetti
Factory, yet paralytic girl wants
hurly-burly of spider monkeys
an hour with fruit bats
away from her own pen
the spokes of her life
similar to chimpanzees
picking scabs, people pointing
laughing, a President of spiritual-ethical disability
guffawing about gimps, cripples, on
National TV, while his make-america-
great people eaters line up for
buffalo burgers and sturgeon soup
the smear of their sweat like seeds
hooking every speck of soil
with invasive ignorance
*****
Born Free
Alternatives — Wild Politics
Animal Liberation — Peter Singer
Should we Eat Animals?
The Case for Animal Rights
Lesli Bisgould
Vegetarianism
Meat Production
Forks Over Knives
Tom Regan