Bare Bones, Baby Elephants, and Gorilla Cells

The bald man with glasses, toasted,
says, “It’s instinct, nothing more.”
As he tightens his ties
he chokes briefly on this stake, but continues,
“It’s not intelligence, they don’t think about those things.”

He glances at the time – 1996
Clinton asks for four more years with,
the senator’s son, promising to save the earth
they cut deals
as thousand year old trees fall at Maxxam speed
near Headwaters
his friend, the archeologist, signs for the Headwaiter
he loves bones, orders the catch of the day
loves Mt. Rushmore, too
loves a stone face Crazy Horse, too, but
didn’t care for AIM

Sticks and stones and bear bones
Boy Scout leaders in Yosemite
following directions, let loose
stone a seventy-five pound bear to death
with straight and narrow minds
they claim self-defense

The archeologist digs out the salmon bone,
caught in his thought of superiority, and
with excellent technique, he brushes his palette
to reveal his hierarchical vantage point

Claiming the top rung, he watches
as a defenseless baby boy falls into a
gorilla’s cell, and the species from below,
without thinking, comforts the unconscious child
Unperturbed, and without adjusting his genes,
he lectures on,
“Animals don’t think”, he says
the Bachelor is now a Doctorate
“Take that mother elephant, Lisa”,
she denies her “little boy” her milk
and thus, the Oakland Zoo of millions
how unthinkable

10/96