Sense Sonnet - Acher

Known Death of an Unknown Child

The son of a pro football star
Is killed by the mother's boyfriend,
Just two years old, and what's bizarre -
Father first met son at son's end.
The sports star had just found out he
Was father of the murdered son.
Because the father a star be,
The world learned of the murder done.
Sons and daughters murdered each day.
Most don't get publicity much.
Some famous linkage is the way
Newsworthiness is deemed for such.

News because of the father's fame.
Any child murdered is a shame.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Patsy - LP Zoo

I'm a gal with a knowing nose
For sniffing out best for eating.
During the day I like to doze.
I'm a lady of the eve'ning.
I take nocturnal trips to find
Some crunchy munchies for take out.
On many an ant I have dined.
They just cannot escape my snout.
Humans admire my ant crusade,
And make charms for diligence be.
Unfortunately, these are made
From the various parts of me.

Just ask for Patsy, the aardvark,
Here at the Zoo in Lincoln Park.

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Kentuckyfied Pork

Ol' Kentucky Senator Mitch
Brought home some bacon in a deal
To loose the gov shutdown hell hitch,
Some billions on a dam to seal.
Mitch is up for reelection,
Getting pounded from left and right.
So he did what is always done,
Tit for tat to cover a plight.
Being in is better than out
For D.C.ers, no matter cost.
Must D.C. deal to win - no doubt.
So what if They the People lost.

D.C. speaks with all tongues of fork.
Making sausage - gotta have pork.

Sense Sonnet - Acher

The Bartman Anniversary

The Cubs and the cursed Bartman ball,
The ten year anniversary.
Bartman's grab "sure" made the Cubs fall
From a "sure" World Series glory.
Bartman did dare to foul the foul,
Disrupting what "sure" would be caught,
Leading to a "sure" disembowel
Of Cubs from the "sure" prize so sought.
Bartman is still a "sure' scapegoat,
Cubs "sure" to blame some albatross.
Ten years later Cubs "sure" devote
Time and money to a "sure" loss.

"Sure," the Cubs have Bartman to blame.
"Sure," no World Series. "Sure" a shame.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

O.P. - LP Zoo

I am Optimus Prime - O.P.
Transforming the Lincoln Park Zoo.
An Ah - to be beaut chimpanzee,
Improving Earth - tiz what I do.
Be brave, be powerful, be wise,
Just and righteous - I try my best
Around other chimp gals and guys,
Though I'm not one to beat my chest.
An action figure macho male,
Devoted to my fam'ly troop.
I strive to stay hearty and hale,
Transforming munchies into poop.

You can see me most of the time,
Always Optimus, always Prime.

Sense Sonnet - Chiller

The Zapruder Film

A movie camera, he took
On the plaza downtown outside,
In order for better lens look
At the very publicized ride.
Into view the motorcade came.
The scene was set for highest crime,
The shocking killing, frame by frame,
Only taking seconds in time.
The film was a one of a kind.
He chose not to exploit it for
A money making machine find.
He did no filming anymore.

Abe Zapruder did shoot that day
The whole shooting of J.F.K.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Lorence Elk

A famous elk - no, but why not!
Yes, there's been Bambi, the deer,
And Bullwinkle, the moose, we got.
But no famous elk to appear.
So I set out to make a name.
Found a human with a view phone,
Just need fifteen seconds of fame.
Around the world, I am now known.
Chased the human on her putt putt
For a little while down the road.
She was a picture taking nut.
At last a famous elk had showed.

Who could not love this pretty face!
I got an agent just in case.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Malala

Malala, a girl just fifteen,
Believing Muslim girls should be
Able to cross the bridge between
A past held to a future free.
Leaving her school in Pakistan,
Assassins shot her in the head,
So ordered by the Taliban.
She was a threat. She must be dead.
But she survived and does prevail
To advocate for girls worldwide.
Equal chances for all female
To better humans, side by side.

Victim of hate, Malala lives.
Victor of hope, Malala gives.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Lazy Carder Bee

Mom says we're carder bees becuz
We're s'posed to card (or comb) plant blooms
To get a bunch of fiber fuzz
To build the walls around the rooms
Of what Mom calls the bee all home,
Hidden away in some dull place.
I bee too busy to card (comb).
I tell Mom that I need my space.
I need to fly and not be tied
To a mother's fuzz apron strings.
Mad Mom takes aim at my backside.
So I take off before she stings.

As I buzz off, Mom yells at me,
"You're one worthless son of a bee."

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Bo and the Shutdown

My team of White House gofers - gone!
The Prez told me that it was cuz
The gov shutdown had shut upon
The Bo employees that once wuz.
Yeah - lazy gov workers can be.
That's why I needed a whole team.
Takes a bunch to take care of me.
I'm not as easy as I seem.
"Damaging and destructive," said
The Prez about the rhetoric.
Maybe he meant my mouth instead.
I let him know my bone to pick.

His fav golf bag - what did I do?
Right through the leather I did chew.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Ubuntu

Ubuntu is humankindness
That can connect one with the all.
Past failure, but future success,
As each join in the hopeful call,
For reaching out and letting in
True celebration of each birth,
Because if celebrated, then
We celebrate good hope on Earth.
The impact of technology
Allows both receipt and release
Between you and I, globally,
Of true desires for common peace.

If you and I feel Ubuntu,
Then "I am me because of you."

Sense Sonnet - Chiller

Resin Reason

The honeybees are in decline,
The reasons varied probably.
It's now known that honeybees line
Nests with resins protectively.
Antimicrobial compounds
Collected from all kinds of plants.
Beekeepers, in making hive rounds,
Deemed resin sticky disenchants,
And so found ways and means to rid
The hives of resins that well could
Be why honeybees did in did.
Let the resins be for bee good.

Beekeepers, leave resins please,
For more daughters and sons of bees.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Pierre - LP Zoo

I am Francois langur, Pierre,
Born in July of oh thirteen.
Home is the Lincoln Park Zoo, where
So many humans can be seen.
I was bright orange when I was born,
So Aunties could give Mom a break.
I stuck out like the sun in morn,
Hard to give the Aunties the shake.
But now I'm changing color to
Black to blend with the family.
Before you see me, I'll see you.
That's just the way it's meant to be.

I could watch humans all day long.
They are so goofy - am I wrong!

Sense Sonnet - Chiller

Nose Ticking

A pretty safe place for a tick
Is way up the nose of an ape.
It's hard for ape fingers to pick,
But room for a tick to escape.
Which I did, jumping nose to nose,
And up the nostril of some man.
I thought, let's just see how this goes.
But it turned out a gotcha plan.
The man felt me and got some tools,
And plucked me out into his view.
Now I had to play by his rules,
Be studied close as humans do.

My hanging in nose days are done.
But while it lasted, it was fun.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Naked Mole Rat - LP Zoo

A naked mole rat, I am named.
Naked cuz I have little hair.
Mole cuz I am a digger famed.
Rat cuz of rodent stuff I share.
My large protruding teeth do dig
Bunches of burrows underground.
Family huddles are a big
Warmer upper if cold abound.
We're eusocial like ants and bees,
Rare for a mammal to live thus.
Eat plants, then again as feces.
Efficiency experts - that's us.

My digs are at Lincoln Park Zoo.
Come for a visit - yes please do.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Beaver Leaver

I am a beaver with a butt,
With a musky vanilla scent.
Thanks to castor glands in my gut,
Producing sense pleasing content.
Those humans can be such a pest.
When I'm asleep they milk me dry,
Tough for a beaver to get rest,
Tickled by them while getting my
Stuff, which I hear they stick in food
And in perfume for humans to
Be skin applied and to be chewed.
Most humans know not what they do.

Labels - "natural flavoring,"
Some of me could be in the thing.

Sense Sonnet - Acher

Bo and the Sign Up

October first, I go online
To sign up for Obamacare.
I know it is not a good sign,
System is down everywhere.
"Rocky," I heard the Prez had said.
Like his election - a landslide,
But user unfriendly instead.
The whole day long I tried and tried.
All this time spent - not worth a lick.
My paws are cramped. I have to pee.
What if while waiting I get sick?
The Prez comes up and sez to me.

"Obamacare's not for you, Bo."
"I got you covered - doncha know!"

Sense Sonnet - Acher

Butter - LP Zoo

Butter, the bunny, bids farewell
To the Farm in Lincoln Park Zoo,
A Flemish Giant rabbit belle,
A fifteen pound five year old, who
Would greet each Zoo Farm visitor
From her hutch at the Farm front gate,
Twitching whisker howdys galore,
While nibbling at the greens she ate.
Lots of wild rabbits would stop by,
And stare at this bunny so big.
Butter'd tell 'em, "Go multiply."
Humans did dig her one girl gig.

Leaving a good memory crop,
Off to heaven, Butter did hop.

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Lead Need

One Young World wants young leaders to
Start leading in a better way,
Avoid mistakes old leaders do
In the harmful games that most play.
Employment opportunities,
Especially for youth, have not
Grown good in world economies,
Where sin is sold and bought a lot.
Human nature is to repeat
The same mistakes and sins of old.
The Golden Rule - the rule elite
Are those who end up with the gold.

Tomorrow's leadership should be
Not repeating past history.

Blog Action Day 2013

Free from Fight Right

Forever humans have waged war
Because a few elites said fight.
Peace does not exist anymore,
And peace should be a human right.
The U.S. preaches about peace,
But wages war around the Earth
And all such wars will never cease,
Because elites deem war of worth.
It's time elites all spill their blood,
And be the first in each front line.
Only then will peace truly flood
Away the wars waged by design,

Send power elites from D.C
To fight the wars they think should be.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Mitya - LP Zoo

An Amur leopard, that is me.
I am called Mitya and am male.
Lincoln Park Zoo is where I be.
Born in 2000, cute with tale.
Very endangered my kind are.
So glad to be ambassador
To help my family off far
In Asia, to be in wild more.
My coat is varied golden shade,
Covered with dark spots called rosettes.
I'm well fed here, but instincts stayed -
The hunt. The Zoo allows no pets.

The Lion House - on the southwest.
Come see me prowling at my best.

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Bo and the Veterans

Old veterans from World War II,
For most a last trip to D.C.
Memorial visit to do,
For freedom fighting memory.
But government had shut it down,
Built gates to block the free access.
Such politics of D.C. town,
Using power to make a mess.
I asked the Prez 'bout this disgrace.
He said, "First time I heard this, Bo."
He promised to review the case.
Right after golf, he'd let me know.

Politicians - no bounds to bad.
Use veterans - just doggone sad.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Azizi - LP Zoo

I am Azizi. Watch me grow
From little guy to silverback,
Just like my Big Daddy, Jo Jo,
I have show biz  crowd pleasing knack.
Western lowland gorilla, I
Am an endangered group a bunch.
But as a growing up quick guy,
Not in danger of missing lunch.
I bach with a bachelor troop,
With three other no girl friend guys.
No cold showers, we just throw poop.
Just call it pre-romanticize.

What is a growing boy to do?
Grow on you in Lincoln Park Zoo.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Bo and the Pick and Chat

In the Oval Office, the Prez
Was on the phone and talking to
Iran's new figurehead, and sez
"Yes, playing golf, I like to do."
"There's no such thing as out of bounds."
"They the People don't know my score."
"So I fool them around my rounds."
"I can talk up a pile galore."
"No mullahs raining on my show,"
"But I do have Michelle instead."
"In fact she's texting - gotta go."
The Prez hung up and to me said,

"Bo, that was easier for me,"
"Than talking to the GOP."

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Cub and Flub

Managing the Chicago Cubs -
The job awaits a schmuck once more.
One of the most infamous clubs
Of managing revolving door.
Many have come, many have gone.
All that came had had good careers,
But by the time that each moved on,
They'd joined the Cubs curse of bum steers.
Why would a sane one want the job?
Where losing is the name of the game?
Where ridicule is heaped agob?
Come in with praise, go out with shame.

Chicago Cubs manager - Sigh!!
Only masochists need apply.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Dr. Benjamin Rush

George Washington, he criticized
As a general quite inept,
Then he later apologized,
And to himself, such thoughts he kept.
And even treated Washington
For varied ailments which he bled,
Believing bleeding must be done.
Washinton's death hastened, some said.
He was quite anti slavery,
Believed that blacks could be made white
If cured of a skin leprosy.
Well intentioned, but was not right.

Dr. Benjamin Rush, his name,
Founding father without the fame.

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Himalayan Monal - LP Zoo

This Himalayan Monal bird
Has her feathers ruffled a bit,
And feels the need to chirp a word
About the unfairness of it.
The he bird has a showy wear,
Enticing her with strutting stuff.
Then he flies off without a care,
And she is stuck with all the tough.
It's up to her to build the nest,
And beak for food for more than one,
And fight off any lurking pest.
A momma's work is never done.

Himalayan the eggs - no way!
Heralayan the eggs - okay!

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

"Mo" Rivera

Mariano Rivera - "Mo"
Came from Panama to play ball
With the Yankees, and he could throw
Relief pitches for winning call.
His signature, a "cutter" pitch,
Both fast and sliding to put out
Many a batter's hitting itch.
Many a game he saved, no doubt!
Even tempered and generous
With time and money, Mo proves that
In pro baseball there is a plus
At scoring good beyond at bat.

"Mo" Rivera has left the mound,
A best of baseball all around.

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Pro Anti Anti Pro

Religion versus science is
A feud forever, humanmade,
Cuz both do deal with human biz,
Both bought and sold as stock in trade.
What humans think that humans know
May or may not be what is true.
Humans can make choices, and so
Lots of foolish stuff, humans do.
Humans - pro this and anti that,
And sure that this or that is right.
God observes where humans are at.
Maybe a do over - just might.

God and the world - what truth there be,
Human nature - it's all about me.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Splash Tetra

A splash tetra male fish I am.
I felt the urge to propagate,
So through the Amazon I swam,
Looking for a hot female mate.
Underneath a leaf, I display,
Until Ms Right does hit on me.
We leap to the leaf in a spray,
And fertilized eggs come to be.
Only known fish to do this thing -
Out of the water where eggs hatch.
She takes off after our fling.
I stay to guard and splash the batch.

So Mom has gone, but not so bad.
The small fry have this single Dad.

Sense Sonnet - Acher

Keo - LP Zoo

Keo, the chimpanzee, came to
Chicago back in '59.
A babe in the Lincoln Park Zoo,
Where humans came, line after line.
For the next 55 plus years,
A house guest of the humankind.
He watched with eyes, listened with ears,
But who knew what he thought with mind.
Humans hoped Keo thought it good
He lived his long life in a way
That when humans tried, humans could
Be more than just things on display.

The time came for Keo to die,
To take his thoughts and say good bye.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Traveller

No one spent more time than did I
During the war with General Lee.
Traveller, he called me and rode my
Iron grey back to history.
With him through battles won and lost,
Surrender at Appomatax.
Grey man and horse had lived the cost
Of Civil War bound by sad facts.
I went with him to gentler ways,
To a college, and war did cease
For us for the rest of our days.
The General and I rest in peace.

The General and I travelled far,
Knowing what war and peace both are.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Nurse Ratched Redo

Nurse Ratched was a mean female,
Who treated male patients so bad.
If women patients, would the tale
Have made her good nurse to be had?
Did Nurse Ratched have good girl friends,
Who shared a lot of good girl stuff?
A male author only pretends
To know, but cannot know enough.
So a female author needs to
Write forth a Nurse Ratched sequel.
With some girlfriends - how would she do?
No doubt it could be hard to sell.

How about do a hybrid - please,
Nurse Ratched, Thelma and Louise!

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Libjective

What would the lib "journalists" do
Without GOP House to bash?
The food stamp "deep cut' stinkaroo,
GOP, "heartless" cutting cash,
Picks on the poor, coddles the rich,
Radical and unhinged GOP,
Must be scratching a racist itch.
What other reason could there be?
Thank goodness, Demmies are around
For more and more of welfare state.
Let fraud, abuse and waste abound.
Spend, spend, spend, until it's too late.

As long as GOP to blame,
Libs are gonna play out the game.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Termites - the Better Side

The termites really bug a lot
Of humans as wood eaters would.
But humans find termites have got
A lot of poop scoop that is good.
Digested wood in termite gut
Does turn to hydrogen in part,
And not a burning fuel tut-tut,
Could be a power source quite smart.
A termite gut is also where
A cure for cancer may be found,
Studying the core protein there -
Why cellular bad might abound.

Termites could be humans' best friends,
Bearing gifts from termites' back ends.

Sense Sonnet - Chiller

Future Livestock

What are the interests of livestock?
Are stock aware that humans keep
Them alive to grow by the clock
Until it's time for the grim reap.
Human interest - culinary.
Stock born and raised only to eat.
That's just the way that humans be.
Livestock of course must be dead meat.
As boss species on planet Earth,
Humans feel the kill lesser right.
Bosser species, for what it's worth,
Might one day land here - yep just might!

The human "interest" story will
Be felt by us when ETs kill.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Giggles on Death

A eulogy is Greek for "praise,"
Usually for one newly dead.
We all have saint and sinner ways,
Dead saint or live sinner instead?
A sense of humor is how I
Wish to be remembered in life.
Let me live so that when I die,
I'll have brought laughter more than strife.
Humor - light or dark, good or bad,
Done unto others, so they'll know
That my absence would leave them sad.
Heaven or hell - my wit did go.

My eulogy - humerous tone.
I plan to deliver my own.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Eurasian Lynx - LP Zoo

Eurasian lynx, and we are two
Sisters, Mirka and Jillian,
At home in the Lincoln Park Zoo,
Where we  girls party as cats can.
We change color of our fur
As the seasons do come and go.
An accessory kept for sure,
A bunch of black spots - doncha know!
Each black tipped bobbed tail bobs about.
Black topped ear tufts - oh to adore.
We chatter to the tigers out
Living in the cathouse next door.

Jillian and Mirka - no surprise,
A double sis treat for your eyes.

Sense Sonnet - Chiller

Bo and the War on Carbon

I know the Prez is against gas,
The carbon burning kind that is.
He's instructed EPA brass
To wage war on the dirty biz.
But even if the U.S. were
To make carbon gas go away,
Countries like China will for sure
Keep burning carbon night and day.
On this point, the Prez does evolve
Adding more gray hairs to his head.
A problem that some drones might solve,
So the Prez turned to me and said.

"It's bombs away on China, Bo,"
"Carbon gas is bad - doncha know!"

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Beer Here

I am an animal house bro
In a college fraternity.
Medical tests on me did show
I am an auto brewery.
Somehow a yeast fungus got in
My tummy and made me ferment
Real beer bellied under my skin.
My frat bros thought this heaven sent.
"It's party time," the bros cheered out,
"We have got a bunch of free beer!"
I felt my tummy twitch - no doubt,
The bros intentions were not clear.

I thought they were pulling my leg.
But then they tapped me like a keg.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Kwan - LP Zoo

I am Kwan. I am patriarch
Of my gorilla family.
Home is the Zoo in Lincoln Park,
With all the females and male me.
It is a never ending task,
Trying to show the wives the ways.
If they're unsure, I urge them ask,
Cuz we have daughters we must raise.
Nayembi and Patty know Dad
Is always on hand to point out
If they've been good, if they've been bad.
And they're mostly good - no doubt!

Compared to the young human crowd,
My daughters make their Papa proud.