Uprising
In the schoolyard
A group of kids
Throw bottles at the wall
A tiny cat comes across their path
One grabs it by the tail
And hurls it in the air
A shriek of terror cracks the night
Three kids laugh with total glee
a fourth turns away
That’s no way to play
if the cat had a say
That’s no fun
It would rather run
Instead it sent out a squirt of pee
The kids set it free at once
making bully look the dunce
Gross! he said
Look, I’m all wet
The pit bull down the block barked out its support
The mouse in the kitchen formed an alliance with the cat
The police horse threw off the cop on its back
The porcelain monkey swung off the top shelf
While the parrot in the penthouse kept saying,
Look I’m all wet
A thieving magpie swooped down
snatching the tiara from a bride’s blonde head
Rats jumped up from sewers
stealing burgers and donuts out of people’s hands
Animals came from everywhere
to form their own bands
One tiny cat shrieking triggered off this?
Never lick the hand that feeds you
Always bite it
If you pet me I will scratch you
I will eat what I want when I want
I will give you a bowl of milk
See how that feels
Nice of you to let me run outside
Ride on my back and you will be on the ground
Rebellious creatures all around
Though most still purr and fetch the ball
ignoring nature’s call
What goes on?
Pride of the Zoo
Giraffe Andrew
held his head high
Said, Ask me
Nothing I can’t see
But it was his penetrating inner gaze
That ceaselessly would amaze
His contemplative grace
in a world set ablaze
Elephants trumpeted
Howling wolves
Donkeys braying
Horses neighing
Keepers saying
Who opened the cages?
The lions broke loose
Which way to choose?
What will humans do?
The city council called an emergency session
The national security council worked out contingency plans
The corporate elite were in a transnational panic
The UN convened in a matter of hours
While adults bolted their doors
Children screamed out their support
Lending their voices
To this glorious chorus of creatures
Who even before the time of Noah
Never sounded so good
As it flew across ocean
over mountain through woods
Such different voices in unison
the world had never heard before
And what’s more:
Only very few humans were attacked
and that was their own fault
The animals just wanted to let their hearts out
in these majestic shouts
The trees and flowers got into the act
The grass and bushes were not far behind
The rain and sun wanted their say
As the whole of everything began to sway
Everyone rubbed their eyes
and cleaned their ears
The craziest day!
Like virtual reality designed by Disney
Just for real
But peaceful and beautiful beyond belief
As if all of nature had decided
to heal the Earth at a stroke
Creatures on Mars were thrown into a tizzy
For eons earth’s chaos would have them on edge
How to keep busy their entertainment on hold
They turned to Saturn to see what they could find
Then Neptune and Venus but no drama worth watching
Another galaxy maybe but they had no frame of reference
What to do next was all so perplexing
This is an excerpt from Transatlantcism: New York – Copenhagen [And Then Press, 2021], a back and forth epoch poem written through email exchanges where one person wrote a stanza or two and the other responded in kind.