No more warm,
no more milk,
no more rough tongue.
They put the hard ring around my neck,
and pushed me behind the strange gray grass that cannot bend.
The Meat Monkeys taught me useless things:
Jump through a hoop.
Sit on a perch like a bird.
Go here, do that, learn some monkeytalk.
Whip. Chair. Hungry.
At night, I dream of forests full of loose dinner.
Here comes my Meat Monkey, strutting.
Meet my claws, teeth, anger.
Learn some tigertalk.
______
a circus tale for Mama Zen in 89 words.
Shay--My daughter would love this. Every time the circus comes to town, she's protesting...and educating.
ReplyDeleteWhy can't circuses just be filled with people?
This is why I don't like the circus. Love this tigertalk!
ReplyDeleteThis should be printed on a sign outside every circus.
ReplyDelete*sigh*
ReplyDeleteThree cheers for the doom of the meat monkeys! Personally, I cannot abide circuses - such a licence for animal cruelty.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure EVERY caged animal feels this way. The instinctive call for freedom and open spaces...
ReplyDeleteGo, tiger, go!
ReplyDeletethe meat monkey...i bet he prowls each night. remind me not to talk to my car alone...without a gun. haha :)
ReplyDeleteCool take on the prompt, love 'meat monkeys'.
ReplyDeleteAnd let the tigers get their revenge against the "Meat Monkeys."
ReplyDeleteI love how your well is always full of interesting takes on a prompt.
This one did not disappoint:~)
Love the voice here--describing the loss of mother, the unbending grass, the act ... O, Meat Monkey! O. loose game! I have heard, once or twice, of reintroducing circus animals to the wild. Grrr.
ReplyDeletehell YES!
ReplyDeleteALOHA from Honolulu
ComfortSpiral
=^..^= . <3 . >< } } (°>
Through "the eye of the tiger" for sure....this is greeeeeaaaat Shay.
ReplyDeletePerfectly embodied, I think! Love this, Shay.
ReplyDeleteThis is so angry and so raw. I love/hate it, if you know what I mean. Damn the people who are caging, breaking, poaching, putting into extinction the species we share the earth with. We do not deserve this planet as they do, and our humanity (already a questionable commodity) is diminished by each and every act against animals.
ReplyDeleteExactly.
ReplyDeleteI thoroughly enjoyed this!
ReplyDeleteThinking of it from the animal's perspective makes it incomprehensibly cruel. I love the trainer's title.
ReplyDeleteyes! i especially love that you wrote this for MZ's prompt asking how your life is like a circus, because sometimes life does feel like this.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Marian. This is a great protest and commentary on life (sometimes)
ReplyDeleteCircuses and zoos make me sad. Go tiger!
ReplyDeleteOnly you can embody the big cat so eloquently. Excellent.
ReplyDeleteLove it! You speak tiger well.
ReplyDeleteYour poem made me sad, emotional .. but all is good, promise.
ReplyDelete"boomed death into my mother"---ouch...powerful start to a persuasive, moving poem.
ReplyDeleteslow burn. there are 6 white rhino left. freaking boom. grr.
ReplyDeleteon the plus side.
well, is there one? ~
"Circus" has such a negative connotation in my mind...and this is one of the reasons why. The elephants always get me the most.
ReplyDeleteMeat Monkeys indeed! i've known quite a few men that qualify.
ReplyDelete♥