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Chimpanzee
Tea Party, London Zoo 1926
For
their daily treat, the chimps are costumed fine
in
romper suits and robes and dandy hats.
They’re
calm, obedient, polite, prepared to dine
on
cakes and cream and tea brewed in a pot.
The
zoo crowd smiles at tidy, well-trimmed hair,
at
manners, chatter, quaint but toothy grins.
“They’re
just like us!” (more so, were they fair),
but
could they . . . a teacup
tipped,
a
cake hurled ‘cross the cage,
a
pot dropped,
shat-
tered,
the
diners, knuckles
bent,
bouncing
on
the table,
tossing
hats,
shrieking
chimpanzee
–
differences
from us
yet
more amusing . . .
(and
much more, in the long run,
reassuring).
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Gallows
Hill, Salem
Today
it’s stubble pine,
iced
grass whisking
circles
in snow drifts,
stag-horn
sumac’s
red
against white.
A
lone redtail rises
against
the darkening sun,
A
raspy crow tries to call,
and
an early robin clings
to
a bare branch, does not . . .
should
not . . . sing.
I
find none of the hangings’ horror,
while
at my feet, snow smooths rough
granite
folded like the scroll
that
named them witches, chose
this
as the place to damn them.
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Shall
We Dance This Blizzard?
It’s
barefoot Yul bowing at the door,
gilded,
royal, arms outstretched, then
we
two swirling, whirling new
snow
across the hill, up the slope, down
the
drive, through drifted yards, my silk white
gown,
petticoats rippling, wind trumpeting
one,
two, three, and . . . tall firs iced into
glittering
columns . . . one, two, three, and . . .
obedient
maples swaying too in time,
and
icicle fingers snapping the beat from
the
eaves as I spin to home, where I kiss
his
bald head and one two three and . . .
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