The New Zoo Crew

O the animals we saw
cracker shapes of travel
in a road trip box with wheels
ropes and bungees
tied down
on tall truck attachments
for handles
and hitches
on the highway
of the One
this time.

First,
the flocks
sheepishly stand
A herd of llamas
above
hovering hawks
kettles calling the cattle
black
lazing, grazing horses
switch tail
feathers fall
where the velvet
goldenrod
sheet of summer
drapes the hillside
The bovine still seeks green
where none can be seen

Away we arrive
and got gophers galore
nocturnal noshers
not worse than a snore
while raptors and rodents
feast and scream in the night
curfewless

We came and saw
and otter stay
but scheduled to play
somewhere else
today
we headed away
not on American safari
but saw a dazzle
of grazing zebra
galloping goats
and even I, excited
sea lions
everywhere we stare
flashless and mesmerized
by the negatives
microfiche of memory

Where wandering whales pass
dawdling deer
droop long necks
drinking mountain dew
squeaking squirrels scrape
little nails and big nuts
stashed for later
towed by trailer
in a wild week
at the new vacation station
with a view of the wild public
places, faces
on exhibit
also called a zoo-
have you been too?

Image credit: By Daderot (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons. San Simeon, California taken (@ Hearst Castle).