Kansas
City Zoo, June 1993
Sometimes
the fences are so blue they nearly blend to sky,
Sometimes green
...........................the
earth
Flecked in tones of rust, or so black with paint
The bars almost disappear—
............................................and
for a moment,
We can’t help but imagine ourselves a part of their
landscape,
A commonality existing between us.
Sometimes
the Plexiglas smear of fingers,
Of oily palms & paws,
...................................resists
our awkwardness:
We search for “Sally” Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris)
Rare marine species of the North Pacific . . .
Find only
faces, reflected in the inches of thick glass.
But today,
alone in the rain, our shirts soaked through,
Everything is alive & moving. The goats eat greedily
From our
hands, as giraffes wrap fat, black tongues
Around the meager offerings
Of bubbling
children,
.................................and
for a few hours
It’s as if we’ve never met. I tell you stories
I haven’t remembered in years—
....................................................the
trip with my mother
When we saw the chimpanzee paddle
A dropped pacifier across the moat at Monkey Island,
How silly
he looked, sitting at the top of the leafless mimosa,
Fighting off the other chimps,
............................................
how strange & beautiful he was,
Pacifier firmly between his lips—
And we hold
each other in the House of Birds, our hearts
Flitting in the colors of constant motion, all macaws
And cockatoos;
& give ourselves to the one mamba
Stalk still, green against the glass
Of the Reptile
House watching us watching him, his eyes
Never blinking, the shell of his skin
Leathering
in the corner of the cage; & kiss publicly
For disinterested lions caught in their own revolutions,
And I want
to say This is it. This life, this,
Living, you, me—but don’t—say, It’s cold & we should
go.
Still, you
recognize the hesitation, smile & take my hand,
Lean in & kiss me anyway.
*John
Pursley III teaches creative writing at the University
of Alabama, where he is a poetry editor for Black Warrior
Review. This year he was the Editor’s Choice selection
for the Mid-American Review James Wright Award, received
the Hackney Literary Award in Poetry and the won the
Southeast Review Poetry Contest. His recent work appears
in The National Poetry Review, Poetry International,
River City, & Smartish Pace.
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