wild life

I grew up in the Cincinnati zoo.
I learned the alphabet from
aardvarks and spent lunch
lying with the lions,
stretching my neck and pondering
giraffes.
I tugged my brother's sleeve -
but how'd they get so tall? -
and he laughed.
they probably only eat
long, gangly things,
kinda like how flamingos
dine on pearly pink shrimp
and sloths can only handle
the slowest, most ponderous,
laboring, lumbering meals,
and anteaters - well, you know.
mom says the chimps drink
too much, but they look more fun
than the elephants, 'cause
who'd want to remember anything
forever, anyway?
a kid could get confused
growing up in a zoo.
there's the difference
between see-ya-later
alligators and in-a-while
crocodiles, which I always get
backwards, and they say
don't tap the glass
cause snakes like their naps
but who says they wanna sleep
their lives away?
sometimes
spending days in cages
and nights scaling fences
makes you forget which
is actually free.
that's why always I liked birds best -
I could imagine those clipped wings
one day
growing back.