Poem for Friday and Maryland Zoo Savannah

Black Rhinoceros
By Edward Hirsch

The Black Rhinoceros at Brookfield Zoo
Eating sweet potatoes, carrots, and bread
Looked like my uncle’s extended family
Crowding around the table at Thanksgiving.

Mrs. Movehill suddenly started crying
On the second-grade bus, which often stalled,
And the next day we had a substitute teacher
Who said that rhinos have poor eyesight

And swivel their tube-shaped ears in all directions
So they can hear their enemies approaching, lions
And people who carve their horns into daggers
Or mash them into pain relievers.

My parents bought my shoes on discount
At Wolinsky & Levy, and so whenever I raised
Either foot my sole said “Damaged.”
That’s why I kept my feet close to the floor.

When Mrs. Movehill returned, she wore dark
Dresses and told us that the Black Rhinoceros
Is the same muddy color as the White Rhinoceros,
Which is strange, if you think about it, and we did.

What does it feel like to have two horns
Tilting up on a huge head, Mr. Rhinoceros?
You lumber around in your skin of armor
Like an exiled general or a grounded unicorn.

Everyone knows that a pachyderm in peril
Would still rather live in the open savannah.
We can’t tell if you are trumpeting forward
Or backward in your scrubby house.

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My Thursday was relatively boring -- I did a bunch of cleaning and organizing of stuff no one but me will ever notice -- but it was marginally less hot and humid than Wednesday and we didn't get an unexpected thunderstorm, so that's something! And I spent a lot of time trying to understand what is happening in British government, and what is likely to happen next, and what it means, which not even my British friends could say for certain. 

More than half of my usual Thursday night chat group couldn't come, so it was a very short chat, after which we watched the end of The Terminal List, which I liked very little about, a perfect example of a time I should have spoiled myself for the plot! The acting's okay but it's a revenge-fest that cheers on vigilante murders over justice, not the conspiracy drama the previews promised. Some of the African animals in the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore: