Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Octo Tales

The octopus has tales to tell
Of working with humans that are
Just skeletons with heads that swell,
With self centeredness so bizarre.
Humans do have this thing about
Grabbing an octopus to test,
Surprised that octopus wants out
Of being held by human pest.
The reason I can tell my tale,
I was stuck in a human tank,
Dislodged a drain pipe in that jail,
Leaving humans blankety blank.

It's always fun to irritate
Think so smart human vertibrate.

Sense Sonnet - Acher

World Cup Mascot

The three-banded armadillo
From east Brazil to be exact.
I got the name of Fuleco,
A football/ecology pact.
The two thousand fourteen World Cup
Made me the mascot - soccer all
To raise the world awareness up.
I can take the shape of ball.
Merchandise revenue rolls in,
But no royalties for my kind.
Going extinct not if but when.
Gotta somehow change human mind.

Maybe as mascot, I keep live
My species needs help to survive.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Jack the Joey - LP Zoo

A joey and my name is Jack,
And I am a red kangaroo,
A few months old, I'm kicking back
At home at the Lincoln Park Zoo.
Came time from Mama's pouch to pop
Out into the world all around.
The journey starts with just one hop,
And then some more into a bound.
Some other 'roos hopped up to me
And pointed out the creatures called
Humans, a lot on display be
Watching me, and being enthralled.

So just call "Jack" when at the Zoo,
And I'll be a hopping for you.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Python of Dreams - LP Zoo

A green tree python, I did nap,
And dreamed I was curled in a tree.
Some fur and bones pooped out as crap.
C'mon next mouse, c'mon to me.
Leaf camoflaged cuz I am green,
For that mouse below - oops - too late.
From hanging tail down I careen,
Bite and swoop up for my lunch date.
I squeeze until mouse eyes pop out,
Then mouse to my mouth swallowed whole,
To be digested two weeks 'bout.
I awake, hunger to console.

Meals here at the Lincoln Park Zoo?
Thawed frozen mice on my menu.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Comped Nest - LP Zoo

A lesser green broadbill, a bird,
Flying around Malaysia wild.
As nest builder - super the word,
A work of art with grasses piled
Into a geometric form
That camoflages nicely, so
Unwanted visitors, not norm,
And little ones can safely grow.
Now here at the Lincoln Park Zoo,
As an ambassador house guest,
Habitat stuff - you humans do.
Part of my deal is a free nest.

Come visit the Zoo where I live.
Pretty nice place you humans give.

Sense Sonnet - Acher

Fall of Ball

My Grampa was a fisherman.
He'd tell of Lake Myvatu in
Iceland, where plain green algae can
Grow in big balls in nature's spin
By freshwater waves of each ball
To keep it free of sediment,
And assure the sun hitting all.
This ecosystem - rare event.
Fish nets often pulled up a heap.
Curse after curse was hauled upon,
Yelling a catch was of round "bleep."
Progress pollution - all balls gone.

Lake life will not be as before.
There is no fishing anymore.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Play Ball - Lincoln Park Zoo

A gorilla girl does love to play
With balls like gorilla boys do.
Dodge ball is a favorite way
To play at the Lincoln Park Zoo.
But the mean gorilla boys won't
Let me play with them, and know why?
Becuz the gorilla boys don't
Like to play and be bested by
The opposite sex who can hurl
A ball with such accurate aim.
Most boys lose badly to a girl,
So won't let me play in their game.

Gorilla boys be big or small
Are helpless behind my ape ball.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Up on Stilt - LP Zoo

A black necked stilt, I am a bird
That likes to wade in waters wet.
Long legs - so stilt is a good word,
And long on each red leg I set.
While standing on one, I can fold
The other leg up next to me,
Countless times heard the humans told
A one legged bird I must be.
Why humans named me, I don't know.
Yes, I have got black on my neck.
But long red legged stilt best show.
Humans are clueless - what the heck!

Check out this stilt when you do do
The Bird House at Lincoln Park Zoo.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Little "Mon" - LP Zoo

The English speaking humankind
Have long called me a dwarf mongoose.
Such misnomer I do not mind,
Since English tongues tend to flap loose.
Smallest African carnivore,
But dwarf - I do not do Snow White.
I'm compact packed with pep galore,
Always busy each day and night.
I am a mammal, not a bird,
So goose - leave it to humans to
Come up with such a goofy word.
But goofy is as humans do.

At Lincoln Park Zoo, come see me -
Such beauty in beast that I be!

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Puff of Gay

Statistics apparently show
That smoking cigarettes by gays
Is more than non gays - doncha know!
Blow dollar signs in smokey haze,
By marketing the nasty sticks
That it's a matter of gay pride
In acting the nicotine fix.
Acceptably identified
Back when smoking cigs was uptrend.
Madison Avenue pitched brands
Enticing gals to light up end.
So cater to the gays demands.

Tobacco companies, there tiz
Big profits in minding gay biz.

Sense Sonnet - Chiller

Face(Mind Lab)Book

Is Facebook manipulating
My mind over matter that's there,
Directing my contemplating
Across my range of how I care.
Subconsciously, I know that biz
Is used to using users to
Sell and resell - that's just how tiz.
That's just what corporations do.
Subconscious, not conscious, is more
How Facebook etal get to me,
Filling my empty mind galore
To turn myself a profit be.

I think Facebook should make me feel
That it's all about me - for real!

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Name that Patriot

In revolutionary days,
Whoever fought the British Crown
Was deemed patriot to praise
For earning risk it all renown.
Love and support of country then,
Was patriotic word and deed.
The U.S.A. became - that's when
Patriot claimers disagreed.
We the People kept close to war.
The first patriots chose to fight.
So what had been success before,
Was surely patriotic - Right?

A patriot of U.S.A. -
Hard to be but easy to say.

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

King D.C. I,II,III

The D.C. tyrant trinity -
Executive, legislative,
And supreme judiciary.
Taking taxes is all they give
We the People, so they can spend
And spend and spend and spend some more,
To feed their cravings without end,
For fatter government galore.
We need a change - that's evident.
Hoping they will change is absurd,
These three branches of government,
Gorge the first, the second, the third.

From D.C. - Independence Day,
Revolution - what do you say!

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

He/She Split

In the beginning was one cell
Of life and then there was one more.
Simply divide - no need to tell
Male or female, cuz no need for.
So why and how sexes evolved,
Inquiring minds wanted to know.
Transgendered algae may have solved
This mystery from long ago.
It turns out there is just one gene
Making algae switch he or she.
So not a complicated scene
For evolving sexes to be.

'Twas algae, scientists believe,
That were the first Adam and Eve.

Sense Sonnet - Chiller

Yeti Bear

A Yeti hand, supposedly
Was found by a Buddhist monk, and
Stolen from the monastery.
Jimmy Stewart smuggled the hand,
The Pangboche Hand, back to the West.
The Yeti legend, the West did
Turn into a Hollywood fest,
Abominably cast amid
No scientific facts to say.
Cryptozoologists now know,
From hair samplings of DNA,
Yeti are bears who like the snow.

Did Jimmy Stewart break the law,
Smuggling out a polar bear paw?

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Bo and the Sanctuary

The Prez was packing POTUS up,
Off to fund raise in Texas state,
"Bo, you are a really smart pup."
He says to me, "So on debate"
"About the border crossings by"
"Illegal folks - 'specially kids,"
"We need a quick fix that can fly."
"My polls are really on the skids."
In dogspeak, I advised the Prez
To send illegals quick and fast
To Chicago that proudly says
It's sanctuary city vast.

"There's room for bunches," I did bark,
"In your empty house in Hyde Park."

Sense Sonnet - Acher

Relocation - LP Zoo

Malayan sun bear, I'm called Fong,
Fun guy at the Lincoln Park Zoo.
But it's come time to say so long,
Out with the old, in with the new.
My habitat will be rezoned
For South African penguin space.
So my cute self is being loaned
To another zoo - a nice place,
Where I will nap and eat and play,
And watch the humans watching me,
And hear the humans often say,
"The cutest bear that ever be."

Wherever this sun bear does roam,
Lincoln Park Zoo is always home.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Asteroid Bound Dawn

I am Dawn, a space probe Earth sent
To study the asteroid belt,
Where two woulda been planets went,
Vesta and Ceres always felt.
Two thousand eleven I got
To Vesta, shouting no hello.
Orbited round and snooped a lot.
Fourteen months and 'twas time to go
On to Ceres. If all goes well,
I'll be the first to beat the odds,
Doing double duty - do tell!
First time orbit - two ET bods.

It's been a trip to go and find
Two close encounters of 'roids kind.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

This Little Piggy - LP Zoo

A Mangalitsa piglet new,
My Mama just gave birth to me
At Lincoln Park Farm in the Zoo.
My pig kin come from Hungary.
We have got lots of curly hair,
And I arrived with mine in stripes.
Mama tells me that humans stare
At me, cuz they're just like that - yipes!
But I am getting used to all
The oohs and aahs from humankind.
Mama says it's my destined call.
It's just show biz, so never mind.

Come visit me and I just might
Be special cute to your delight.

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Soccer No Sale

In the U.S.A. soccer tiz
A game to be played more by kids,
Hard ball to sell as money biz
In the sports world of profit grids.
For U.S.A. the point is score.
We the People do like to win,
And do so entertained galore,
So supply is priced to cash in,
On demand of fans who expect
Instant gratification by
Bang for the buck in sport select.
Soccer's fun free but not to buy.

Selling soccer in U.S.A.?
Not enough drama play to pay.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Oriental Hornet

The oriental hornet is
The first animal to be found
To mind its solar power biz,
Energizing its body round.
When the sun is at most intense,
The oriental hornets do
Orient their in force presense,
Using yellow and brown stripes to
Get the bugging to such a charge.
And give humans some cause to talk
Why some such buggers, by and large,
Keep giving humans such a shock.

The oriental hornets' nest
Has science all abuzz impressed.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Meerkat on Guard - LP Zoo

There is guarding duty to do.
Into us meerkats - built in trait,
Even here at Lincoln Park Zoo,
Where predator threat is not great.
But guarding is still instinct stuff,
No matter the time or the place.
Yes, humans seem harmless enough,
But ev'ry day there's loads to face.
And some weird humans we have met.
Oh we're so cute, the humans say,
And want to take us as a pet.
Strangers we bite, friendlies we spray.

Feel free to look and take some pix.
That's as close as we wanna mix.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

MESSENGER

I am the MESSENGER spacecraft,
A messaging from Mercury,
With loads of info photographed
Of all the sights that I do see.
Each twelve hours I make the round,
An orbit I have done for years.
Mostly pockmarked craters abound.
An end to my mission now nears.
On Mercury, my point of view
Is of a chunk of rock without
The precious life to be home to.
Mercury is no Earth, no doubt.

Message from Mercury - it's worth
Trying harder for peace on Earth.

Sense Sonnet - Acher

Iraq is History

"Infidels" did carve up the land,
Including what became Iraq.
And mostly blood has drenched the sand,
As cultures fight to take time back.
The Sunni, the Shiite, the Kurd
All call to Allah to bring peace,
But differ as to Allah's word,
And so their battles do not cease.
The factions fight in Allah's name,
New pain ignited by old hate,
Spilt blood pursuing holy aim.
Left of Iraq, left to ill fate.

Does Allah have some willed design?
Err is human. Forgive divine?

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Mad White Disease

The year was 1964.
Some places in the South were still
Fighting the U.S. Civil War,
In brutal ways as mad whites will.
A Mississippi murder case,
Three young civil rights workers dead,
Focused the nation, time and place,
On how mad white disease had spread,
Infecting local government
Into complicity with crime,
Encouraging mad whites hell bent
Being racist in place and time.

In South and North there still exist
Mad whites bent on being racist.

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Bo and the Poker Hand

Behind the scenes, powers that be
Set up a high stakes poker game,
Win and hold the Presidency.
Picked Barack Obama by name,
Who plays his hand as he is bid,
In the smoke filled back rooms, and where
Powers said do and the Prez did,
In spite of all the Prez' hot air
'Bout hope and change and all that crap,
Cuz Them the People eat that up.
The Prez calls, "Bo - get on my lap."
The Prez knows I'm his lucky pup.

The Prez plays poker rigged and planned.
Bet Nixon wished he'd played this hand.

Sense Sonnet - Chiller

The Stepford Family

Family is a nature thing.
Before humans, 'twas perfect made.
Human social engineering
Most likely has nature dismayed.
Is married mom and dad with tykes
Really the best for tykes to grow?
This way humankind mostly likes,
But not perfection - doncha know!
So human powers that be try
Experiments of that and this.
Plenty of children to supply
Samplings of what will hit or miss.

Social engineering should be
To build the perfect family.

Sense Sonnet - Acher

Word Skinning

Native Americans were not
Called very good names in the past
"Redskin" was just one of a lot
Of not so nice name that got cast
By those who came and gave and took,
To civilize a savage land,
Those fiends with skins of reddish look.
Into the future went the brand.
A football franchise sold the lie
That "Redskin' was a go team name -
Nonesense all that thin skinned outcry.
After all, it is just a game.

Word battle - American sport
Played in overtime in a Court.

Sense Sonnet - Acher

Mabila

The battle of Mabila site
'Tis in Alabama somewhere.
Spaniard de Soto chose to fight
Native chief Tuscaloosa there.
De Soto was in search of gold,
And killing natives in his way.
Tuscaloosa took a chance bold,
Pretending a give up display,
Leading de Soto to a trap.
In Mabila, killing was done,
But battle details - there's a gap.
So which side lost and which side won?

Why Mabila so long ago?
Inquiring minds just need to know.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Trap Jaw Ant

A trap jaw ant - I'm proud to be.
I can open my mouth real wide
And faster than any specie.
With tiny hair sensors inside
That make my mandibles so snap,
That any in my line of fire
Is gonna get bit by my trap.
'Tis not theirs, but 'tis my desire.
My jaws do not just grab the prey,
But also act as thrusters to
Launch when I want to pop away.
Humans are awed by what I do.

When I decide to shoot my jaw,
This ant has got the fastest draw.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Sent for Scent

This lion loves to shop online.
I bought some Obsession For Men,
A cologne made by Calvin Klein,
Assured pride in the lion's den.
I thought that it would never come,
But then my package did arrive.
I scared the brown suited guy some,
Who peed his brown suit pants - no jive.
In clouds of dust sped U.P.S.
As I roared out thank you, because
No signature required, I guess.
I held my package in my paws.

The cardboard box, at it I tore
To spray on Obsession galore.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Massasauga Saga - LP Zoo

I'm an endangered rattlesnake,
An eastern massasauga call.
At the Lincoln Park Zoo I make
My hatchday with my siblings all
Of note are my vibrant blue eyes.
But they will fade with my first shed.
And my rattles will grow in size
And noise as I shed skin ahead.
I have some venomous fangs, yes.
But humans are not my choice bite.
That would be yum rodents, I guess.
Don't step on me, you'll be all right.

So come and see me at the Zoo,
And I will rattle just for you.

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Whack Iraq

Repubbies and Demmies did make
The choice to invade in Iraq.
Both parties admitted mistake
By ifs, ands, and buts for attack.
Came debate about going in,
Came debate about coming out.
Never really be a sure win.
That's what civil wars are about.
Demmies and Repubbies still fight
With talking points of party line.
We the People feel left and right
Shoved up again where sun don't shine.

There's no winning the Iraq game,
Just stuffing more loss and more blame.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Ethan Eagle - LP Zoo

Call me Ethan. Don't call me late
For lunch at the Lincoln Park Zoo.
American bald eagle - great
Patriotic duty I do.
Which makes a guy hungry. Let's eat.
So I enjoy a menu snack
Of trout and quail and rodent meat.
For good food here, I do not lack.
Some humans ask why am I here.
Well, I got injured in the wild.
Now call the Zoo my home all year.
Very symbolically styled.

I impress visitors a bunch,
Even when I am eating lunch.

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Clintonick

Bill Clinton was a lucky Prez,
During peace and properity.
So now some We the People sez
Just overlook his Lewinsky.
Bill 'splained that parsing words like "is,"
To twist the meanings so to sell
We the People a bunch of biz
Sprayed o'er with spin so "is" don't smell.
Bill Clinton's major stress and strife
Was not from recession or war,
But having Hillary as wife.
Will both make it to Mount Rushmore?

Hillary may get the White House,
Even though Bill "is" still a louse.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Carcass is Served - LP Zoo

This vulture has got the good life,
Home here at the Lincoln Park Zoo.
Getting a bite to eat - no strife.
Cuz that's what the Zoo keepers do,
Waiting on me, talon and beak,
With unthawed carcasses of rats,
A red meat diet so to speak,
Full of cholesterol and fats.
My kind that are out in the wild
Have to spend time and energy
Getting a carcass plan compiled.
I just perch and food comes to me.

I am spoiled by the Zoo culture,
Not a real hard working vulture.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Turtlely Conserving - LP Zoo

Last year as just an egg, I came
To hatch at the Lincoln Park Zoo.
An ornate box turtle by name,
Under the Zoo's fine care I grew,
Until after a year or so,
I had my head start to head out.
It was my time to be let go.
That's what conservation's about,
To let us endangered return
To native land to thrive a gob.
A transmitter helps humans learn
How I am doing in my job.

I make transmissions as I roam
Illinois sand prairie - now home.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Camel Teeth - LP Zoo

I'm a camel in public view,
So I want to flash a nice smile,
At home here in Lincoln Park Zoo.
Good teeth hygiene is just good style.
Now chewing cud does leave a lot
Of particles stuck in my teeth.
I don't want any tooth to rot,
But it's hard to brush underneath.
One time in a spit, I did dump
A molar that flew through the air.
It got tangled up in my hump.
Don't want another dental scare.

There's nothing worse than a tooth loss,
So as I chew plants, I do floss.

Sense Sonnet - Acher

Bye Bye Giraffes

The giraffe, a mammal most tall
And elegant as seen in wild,
In Africa by humans all,
But not many studies compiled.
Giraffes fulfill few humans' claim,
Carry no baggage, good or bad,
So conservation's no real aim.
Giraffes quietly decline - sad!
As savannah habitat dies
For human made "progress" to live.
No controversy - no surprise.
Humans will take, giraffes will give.

Giraffes with humans - loosely linked,
So just going slowly extinct.

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Bo and the "Prince"

Some pundits compare the Prez to
Acting like he is George the Third.
I want to bite their butts - I do.
The Prez says, "Bo, don't be absurd."
And gives me some Repubbie bone.
Such ingrates I think as I gnaw.
Prez critics bellyache and moan.
Them the People stick in my craw.
The Prez was elected to rule,
And will do so until term end,
Hounded by many pundits who'll
Preach what grave crises do portend.

Most pundits really make no sense.
The Prez will always be my Prince.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Neck to Neck - LP Zoo

We giraffes at Lincoln Park Zoo
Have a bet on which one has got
The longest neck between us two.
We've argued about it a lot,
Becuz it is a status thing
That has us going neck to neck.
We even swung into neck swing,
And got tied into a knot - heck!
Since humans like to butt in biz,
Though short on height, humans are long
On opinionating what tiz.
It usually turns out wrong.

Tell us Zoo visitors - don't laugh!
Which is the neckiest giraffe?

Sense Sonnet - Acher

Begin When?

Abortion is evolving in
Science, law and morality.
Science says when life does begin,
With lots of technicality.
A single cell can be called life,
And then more cells do get involved.
As fetus form so form the strife
That other living have not solved.
There is no easy wrong or right.
The woman must choose in the end.
She loses most in any fight
That all the powers that be send.

When life begins, science may say,
But law says if and when to slay.

Sense Sonnet - Acher

Come Children

Born in the U.S.A. We got
Told by all the powers that be
That We were special - heard a lot
Home of the brave, land of the free.
We of a nation under God,
Justice and liberty for all.
But outsiders became outlawed,
Though We felt free world wide to sprawl.
The future of the U.S.A.
Belongs to children - all, not some,
However children make their way,
We the People should each welcome.

Come children from around the Earth.
We the People need to rebirth.

Sense Sonnet - Acher

Vicky - LP Zoo

For fifty years, Vicky did live
As a madame ambassador
With a wealth of sharing to give
On being better than before,
At connections each one with one
As living family on Earth.
Each born a daughter or a son,
The measure of parents' true worth.
Vicky, from daughter, did become
Mother over time in one place,
As multitudes passed to and from
Seeing the connect in her face.

Grand Dame chimp of Lincoln Park Zoo,
Vicky, we will remember you.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Bug Take

June 5th is World Environment Day,
As proclaimed by some human folk.
Humans have such a goofy way,
If 'twernt so sad, 'twould be a joke.
To humans, we of the bug world
Are mostly deemed pests that need be
Gone, so buggings at us are hurled,
Cuz humans are a dumb specie.
But we bugs here will still remain
Long after humans self destruct.
In the meantime, bugs will maintain
Priority in bug conduct.

Oh look what Mother Nature brung -
A nice fresh pile of yummy dung!