AT THE ZOO
Feeding time:
Intent, scrutable, absorbed,
A glint in their computing eye,
Camera and hand nudge, jostle,
Scramble for strategic places.
Faces tighten; the quiet
Menace of aggressive shoulders
Wait for opportunity, provocation.
For the sake of art
Each wishes to capture all
With greedy, wide-angle lenses.
Some climb on a bench or
Discover a convenient tree or
Deploy their elbows
Zooming into the action.
Children -- harassed, confused --
Are carried on shoulders,
Told to shut up,
Take a sweet,
Given a better view,
Initiated.
Feeding time:
Feline, lazy, casual
Barely awake, the carnivores
Shake themselves, test their claws,
Yawn, stretch, shuffle their whiskers,
Smell blood in the cavern of their jaws.
It is again the Serengeti,
The Mato Grosso, Norongoro,
The hills of Bengal .
That curve in the Rengam road
Where the goats come by
At the hour when the panther
Stalks stealthily, is sudden, unceremonious,
When the cry of the dying is
The lust for life.
And the meek of the earth --
Gazelles, antelopes, that man
Nursing a bent umbrella,
Magnificent elands -- the vegetarians,
Are tense, withdrawn, turn sensitive
In their corners.
Feeding time:
Immemorial game this
Between
Those who eat, those who are eaten;
Between
Those who get a good shot,
Those who are pushed aside.
Edwin Thumboo
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