Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Trumpeter Swan Song - LP Zoo

As a trumpeter swan I do
Trumpet the joy of winter found
Enveloping Lincoln Park Zoo,
Where all and I are snowy downed.
Other animals don't like cold,
And seek protection from the chill.
But I seek wonders to unfold
From winter time - the whiteness still.
The lagoon is well stocked with all
That I may need to remain well.
My peace is found within my call.
To all who hear me I shall tell.

Come to the Zoo the coldest day.
My trumpet will guide you my way.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Bo and the Paid Per View

The Prez and I oft watch T.V.
Mostly sports on ESPN.
Such a sports nut the Prez can be.
He pouts if his team does not win.
So very few do volunteer
For T.V. duty with the Prez.
But I just let him rant or cheer,
And of course gloat when he sez,
"Bo, I can't believe I gave you"
"That many points on that darn bet."
The Prez pays me - he always do.
He has not won a wager yet.

As a wagger, I am First Pup.
As a wagerer, I clean up.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

The BeGrimmed Wolf

Once upon a time, a tale told
Of a wolf who was called real bad
By Li'l Red Riding Hood who sold
A whopper 'bout the time she'd had
With me, the wolf, while in the wood,
Charging me with such awful crime.
Can't trust a gal in a red hood.
I've borne a bad rap over time.
But thanks to save the wolf appeal,
Justice did catch up with Li'l Red,
Who spilled she'd made up the whole deal.
I'm not to blame Grandma was dead.

Li'l Red lied - cops polygraphed her.
I lived hap'ly ever after.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Bali Mynah II - LP Zoo

The Bali mynah bird I be
A guest at the Lincoln Park Zoo.
From Bali originally,
My kind are quite endangered true.
And so humans around the Earth
Have breeding programs to match make,
So many of us will come to birth,
And back to Bali for home sake.
Medium sized, white feathered with
Black tips on the wings and the tail.
A real good looking bird - no myth.
Blue skin around the eyes regale.

You don't have to go to Bali.
Just come to the Zoo and see me.

Sense Sonnet - Acher

Killer Waste

Plastic in all forms, shapes and size,
In all oceans do float about,
Being a cruel means of disguise,
A whale may think as food, no doubt,
And swallows down the plastic thing,
A thing that may be sharp of side,
Capable of lethal cutting
Through the whale's system in it's glide.
Case in point - a dvd case
Swallowed down by a young female,
Piercing the stomach in a place
That stopped all feeding by the whale.

The manmade garbage swallowed by
A whale may be the means to die.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

A Top Tamarin Take - LP Zoo

Cotton top tamarin I be.
Named thanks to my Einstein hairdo.
Some sloths, fish, a lizard and me
Are roommates at Lincoln Park Zoo.
Each of us do our own thing,
And don't get in each other's face.
As the only monkey, I bring
A whole bunch of shine to the place.
Give me a grape and I will be
Your best friend forever non stop.
A grape just does something to me,
And I do flip my cotton top.

Come visit the Lincoln Park Zoo,
And bring along a grape with you.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

I Eye - LP Zoo

This kestrel likes to watch the kids
Playing around my habitat.
Such busy sights for my eyelids,
But sound proof glass - I'm glad for that.
In Lincoln Park Zoo, I reside,
The Childrens' building - my address.
As predator, I am prey eyed.
But kids are fun to watch, I guess,
As long as I get prey to eat,
Which the keepers supply for me.
So all in all, life here is neat,
No better place, I'd rather be..

So kids, come play here at the Zoo,
Where I have got a bird's eye view.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Seal of Winter - LP Zoo

Winter at the Lincoln Park Zoo
Can get cold in Chicago town.
I got lots of blubber, I do,
So in the cold this seal can clown
Around for humans who come out
To this Zoo that's open and free.
The human spirits' warmed, no doubt,
Watching the sure showoffs like me.
Flipping about in heated pool,
Whatever the temp be outside,
This seal is always super cool
Through any season that I glide.

The Zoo seal pool - great place to play,
No icebergs to get in the way.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Kid's Snow - LP Zoo

In the jungle it does not snow,
But in Chicago, snow it do.
So it gets snow time, doncha know,
For me at the Lincoln Park Zoo.
No dif'rent than a human kid,
A gorilla kid loves the chance
To jump into and romp around
The cold white flakey circumstance.
Frosty the Snowman should I make?
It would take much too long, I felt,
To do it right, the time 'twould take.
Then 'twould be time for it to melt.

On my menu soup of the day,
A tub of snow in which to play.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Tarantula - LP Zoo

Tarantula - did get my name
From Italy - Taranto town,
Where humans thought from my bite came
Hysteria caused falling down.
Humans tend to blame anything.
My bite is less bad than a bee.
Much better for my spidering
Are hairs that are special to me.
From my tummy they can be thrown,
And will turn lights out for small prey.
Hairs hitting humans have been known
To make the humans go away.

See me at Lincoln Park Zoo, where
If you are good, I won't throw hair.

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Huckabee Fat

Ex Governor Mike Huckabee
Is quitting Fox News to pursue
A possible candidacy
For Prez - for him run number two.
He tried back in two thousand eight,
And did okay for a short while.
Since then, he has put on some weight,
Looking like Taft, but with a smile.
Now, he has dieted before,
And lost a good chunk of his heft.
So less of him could make him more
A crusader against the left.

We the People, politics sez
Will not elect a tubby Prez.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Selfie Degree

The highest education is
The art and science to be found
In a great selfie - fun or biz.
My whole future is selfie bound.
So I signed up to take a class
In college on selfie how to.
Ah - such knowledge I need amass
To make my life worth living - true!
The time and cost is worth it all
To fill my brain with selfie stuff.
I yearn for more. I heed the call.
One class will hardly be enough.

A selfie major - I am set
Tor rack up huge selfie school debt.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Pope Walk the Walk

The Pope is hot on climate change,
Edicting out papal hot air,
How all the world should rearrange
Carbon footprints, or we don't care.
Most celebrities talk the talk,
But if we look closely at each,
The carbon footprints that they walk -
They do not practice what they preach.
So if the Pope is so concerned,
Let the Vatican guide the way.
There no more fossil fuels be burned.
Solar cells and wind mills - do pray.

Let the papal message be sent -
The Pope leaves no carbon footprint.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Grig

I am a hump winged grig - a guy,
A cricket like insect who sings
For sex with gal grigs. First time, I
Have two sets of "get the gal" wings.
One set makes the song to entice
The other set for her to munch.
Lost virginity has a price,
So first time better work a bunch,
Cuz second time, gal grigs won't bite
Unless my song is super swell.
If she does come, I hold her tight.
She's disappointed, but oh well!

Though my snack on wings may be gone,
My song wings can still get it on.

Sense Sonnet - Chiller

Took a Turn

'Twas back in 1963,
A big truck came along and crashed
Into my new T Bird and me.
Docs fixed my hip that got real smashed,
But only sewed up my cut arm.
Fifty one years passed. Then one day,
My arm swelled up to my alarm.
Guess what showed up in an X ray?
A 7 inch long metal rod,
Most of my lifetime afterward,
Signalling  "I'm here" to my bod,
The turn signal from my T Bird.

Removed it, I notice (wink, wink)
That when turned on, I do not blink.

Sense Sonnet - Acher

Common Senseless

A two year old child's in a cart
With his mother shopping away
With lots of people in a mart.
Mom's busy while her child's at play.
The child gets into the mom's purse.
There is the sound of a gunshot.
The mom and child will know no worse.
The child's alive but mom is not.
Though legal to carry a gun
That's loaded and that is concealed,
It should be to a mature one,
That common sense must be revealed.

A loaded gun grabbed by a child.
Horror cannot be reconciled.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Bo and the Play Through

In Hawaii, the Prez and I
Were doing our golfing thing,
Which left a wedding high and dry
On the 16th hole Prez golf swing.
Two army captains, his and her,
Had to relocate their "I do's."
The Prez apologized for sure,
For giving the bride something blue..
The Prez said if only he'd known,
We would have skipped the 16th hole.
He would have used his pen and phone,
And parred it by remote control.

I am such a cheating First Pup.
I find Prez' ball and tee it up.

Sense Sonnet - Chiller

Child's Play

Some friends and I decided to
Play the game of hide and go seek.
Where to hide? So what do I do -
Up to the attic and do peek
Inside an old trunk filled with clothes,
But room for me, so I hopped in
And shut the lid, but then oh ohs.
The lid locks shut and won't open.
I cannot see, so light a match,
Which drops catching the clothes on fire.
And all gets really smokey - natch!
I pound, I yell. The game's gone dire.

The smoke and I are stuck inside.
This was not a good place to hide.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Croc a Smile

Don't tease a crocodile, but know
A ticked off crocodile does tend
To follow wherever you go,
And bite you on your other end.
A croc chowed down a Xmas tree,
Not normal, but maybe because
The croc had a yearning to be
In the spirit as Santa Jaws.
How many arms a croc has got
Oft depends on how far into
The take out meal has hit the spot
That human gotchas often do.

Get closer to a crocodile.
Your coming closer brings a smile.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Bird's View - LP Zoo

A tawny frogmouth bird I be.
Lincoln Park Zoo is where I perch.
Australia - originally
My kind call home - I did research.
At the Bird House, my mate and I
Are in Forest Edge habitat,
With some pigeons and parrots - why?
You'll have to ask the Zoo 'bout that.
I like to hang out on a limb,
Watching humans through the wall glassed.
Sometimes I even, on a whim,
Stick out my tongue after you've passed.

A favorite bird at the Zoo,
I can't help it - just what I do.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Rescued

An avalanche came right at me.
I had no time to get away.
It all went dark and stuck I be.
I never have been one to pray.
But then I heard some sounds outside.
Snow mobilers had come along.
I guess that somehow they had spied
Some clue that something had gone wrong.
After a while they dug me out.
I stood up and shook off the snow.
They were apprehensive, no doubt,
But not injured, off I did go.

Thank you guys for getting me loose.
I thought I was a goner moose.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Ear of the Fox

As a fennec fox I have got
A pair of so super sized ears.
Not much is out of my earshot.
Any sound this fennec fox hears.
The biggest ear, the smallest fox,
But what looks wrong is really right.
Each ear a body heat gauge box,
During Saharan day or night.
When on the hunt, I stand real still
And rotate my ears all around,
Tuning and pinpointing until
I hear a critter underground.

Bigger ears than Dumbo, so why
Like that elephant can't I fly?

Sense Sonnet - Chiller

Dim the Lights

A weapon of mass destruction
Is the movie, "The Interview,"
Dropped on dictator Kim Jong Un.
What will the North Koreans do,
After seeing their leader so
Mocked mean by the nasty U.S.?
It isn't all that hard to know -
Get even with the nasty - yes!
The North Koreans don't have much,
But have a sense that does unite
Against the outside world, and such
Shapes them to lose all as they might.

Before the storm there comes the calm,
Then there comes the nuclear bomb.

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Dickens Begone

Charles Dickens came to the U.S.
In 1842 to mix
Pleasure with making money - yes!
Debts that he hoped the trip would fix.
He found America to be
Too acquisitive and so rude,
Spitting tobacco in D.C.,
Society was very crude.
But what got Dickens really hot,
The pirating of Dicken's work.
He was losing money - a lot.
The peeved press called him a jerk.

Came time to leave and all did cheer
To get the Dickens out of here.

Sense Sonnet - Acher

How Not to Play War

Early on into World War I
1914, a Christmas truce,
The fighting turned to sportful fun,
As games of soccer were let loose.
For just one day the war did cease,
And all resentments set aside.
And soldiers got some sense of peace,
Which flickered that day, but then died.
Because the war powers that be,
Most safely away from the front,
Deemed the Christmas truce unwarly,
And soccer just a childish stunt.

If humans could just wage less war,
Settle by playing soccer more.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Claus for Concern

The Coca Cola Santa Claus
Evolved in 1930's ads,
To sell the drink with take a pause.
Today that look is fraught with bads.
Obese and puffing on a pipe,
A coat fringed with animal fur,
Ruddy red cheeks - tiz redskin hype,
All about him - zilch about her,
Yelling out "Ho's" - now naughty slang,
'Specially by an old white man,
Much offensive baggage does hang.
Coke should come up with a new plan.

The look of future Santa be?
Depends on the whims of p.c.

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Roos News

Twenty fourteen - humans did test
Us kangaroos to check out tail.
Was it just a wagger at best,
Or on a much more useful scale?
The humans trained us to walk on
A flat force measuring device,
With fancy cameras upon,
To get the tale of tail precise.
The tail exerted as much force
As the four other legs combined,
And made the human news of course -
The stuff that blows the human mind.

Test a human by kangaroo?
We have much better stuff to do.

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Carrot/Stick Solution

Animal trafficking is done
Because there's profit to be had.
Behavior that is so human,
So how to turn to good from bad?
Hold carrot in front, stick in back
To move humans the desired way.
Profit and loss is the fast track.
Carrot to be paid, stick to pay.
Any and all traffickers caught -
Fine, taking all assets they own.
Give these assets as payments not
To traffic to those maybe prone.

Which will the human beings pick
Between the carrot and the stick?

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Golfer Gus

The PGA on its website
Announced another hole in one.
Gus Andreone drove it just right,
Ball into cup, an ace was done.
Gus golfs since 1939.
Eight holes in one, his club is notched.
Golf overall is in decline,
But not if Gus the golfer's watched.
A golf ball teed up at his feet,
He swings and off to destiny,
Will be a record hard to beat,
Cuz Gus is one hundred and three.

Another hole in one to score,
When Gus turns one hundred and four.

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

9/11 and Counting

9/11 cost so much more
Than trillions of dollars and sense
That We the People would win war -
The best defense is worst offense.
All U.S. enemies just need
To play us with the same old game.
We are super suckers indeed,
To prove the power that We claim.
But when it comes down to true fact,
The U.S. is just a bully
That has no reason to so act,
But for super stupidity.

9/11 came with the cost
Of fighting wars the U.S. lost.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Howler Monkey - LP Zoo

I am a howler monkey, who
Hangs out with my extra long tail,
Here home at the Lincoln Park Zoo.
Named for my howl that's off the scale,
Loudest animal found on land.
South America, we live wild.
We once were gods, I understand,
For ancient natives we beguiled.
Leaves and fruits and nuts I do eat.
I have great taste and smell and sight.
Human watching is such a treat,
And never spoils my appetite.

So to each and everyone,
Come to the Zoo for howling fun.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Candy Cane

The candy cane at Christmas time.
How did the concept come about?
Was there any reason or rhyme
Achieving such seasonal clout?
Red for blood, white for purity,
To give sweet Jesus on his day
A decoration for the tree,
And spelled with a capital "J"?
Christian connections have been stretched
In lore that is not verified.
Though many tales do seem far fetched,
One fact exits as bona fide.

A priest invented machine main
To mass produce the candy cane.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Dictator Playbook

The North Korea/Sony thing
Should be a U.S. wake up call.
The next such hack could really bring
A bunch of real hurt to us all.
We the People have a long past
Of getting dictators to play
The game with a supporting cast
Whatever 'twas the U.S. way.
Tiz when we make dictators mad
That the U.S. does not fare well.
We might have wrung more good from bad,
If long ago We'd hugged Fidel.

A long way b.s. charm can go.
We need dictators, doncha know!