Issue Forty-Four - Summer 2024

At the Zoo

By Gayle Kaune

At the zoo I saw a mole rat
in its glass-windowed burrow —
such tiny teeth — and when
it looked at me, two inches away,
and yawned, I was no longer
disappointed that the leopard
had slept in the shade camouflaged
by its perfect spots.

At the zoo I watched two camels
wrestle with each other.
Not fighting, but leaning over
and under and taking
the other’s foot in its mouth.
“Like a game of Twister,”
my grandson remarked and the docent lady
said they were siblings and play constantly.

At the zoo my oxygen was running low
so I sat at the entrance and waited
for my family to circle back.
I watched a bouquet of young school children,
dressed in bright pink shirts
boys and girls, gathered up by a teacher —
—President’s day and a time for field trips.

At the zoo people observed me:
white-haired lady with cannula in her nose.
I sketched the Palo Verde
and its thin branches, no leaves,
while the midday sun carried memories
of past visits when I breathed
without a machine. No matter. My eyes
still worked and the toddler
across the plaza, just learning to walk,
stumbled towards me, arms outstretched,
as if I were his grandma.

Copyright 2024 Kaune

Gayle Kaune has been one of the poetry editors for SHARK REEF. Her newest book, Noise from Stars is from Tebot Bach. About her earlier book, All the Birds Awake, Peggy Shumaker has said, “these vivid poems show us ways to live and ways to face the end of living.” Kaune’s chapbook, Concentric Circles, won the Flume Press award. She’s been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her book, Still Life in the Physical World, was published by Blue Begonia Press. She lives in Port Townsend with her husband and little red dog.  

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