Snack Time
Snack Time
Morning snack time at the zoo:
the gorillas emerge from their cages
and begin to forage
in their grassy, treed compound
for the delicacies the keeper
has placed on stumps, in logs,
on rocks, in trees. One female
sits chewing a carrot, two more
gripped in each prehensile foot.
Then she sets out across the grass,
carrots still sticking up
like bright, orange candles. She is wholly
nonchalant. The air swims
with her innocence,
with comedic possibilities,
as the gorilla in her grave dignity
walks with carrots in her toes.
