Sense Sonnet - Chiller

Lights Out

There is a hacker who will hack
Into the U.S. power grid.
'Twill be the worst homeland attack
That any doer ever did.
Chaos and panic will ensue,
With We the People in the dark.
And what will powers that be do?
Make speeches of unheard remark.
The media will tell the tale,
As done back in the olden day.
Town criers will be sent to wail
That life has gone a woeful way.

A cyberwar will come - no doubt.
The U.S.A. will be lights out.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Cat on Bat - LP Zoo

This sand cat in Small Mammal House,
Located in Lincoln Park Zoo,
Lives quite close to a flying mouse,
Or called a bat as humans do.
Oft I sit in my habitat,
And day dream of a tasty snack,
Staring over at neighbor bat,
Causing my feline lips to smack.
I've searched for ways and means to greet
My neighbor in a face to face.
But keepers here won't let me meet
That bat - it's a rule of the place!

That there bat man should really be
This here cat woman's yum yummy!

Sense Sonnet - Acher

Bear Tidings - LP Zoo

Happy 28th birthday year
To Papa Bear (that's me) from you.
Over the years you've brought me cheer
In time and place - Lincoln Park Zoo.
With just a glass wall in between,
You and I can get friendly close.
That's not the same in the wild scene.
Some folks do stupid overdose,
And think the wild bears are like me,
Bad encounters protected from.
But in the wild, we bears do be
In dangers' way from human dumb.

So if you visit Yellowstone,
Please look, but leave us bears alone.

Sense Sonnet - Chiller

Space Spiders

Astro spiders did go to space
In 1973 to
Be the first for the human race
To study webs that spiders do.
In Skylab, Arabella and
Anita wove their weightless weave.
Finer than normal silk was spanned,
And both girls got their webs achieved.
But human crew members did not
Give enough water to them, so
Death was the spiders' final lot.
Humans can be dumb - doncha know!

Spider like ETs may soon come,
And make us humans look more dumb.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Stripes of Mine - LP Zoo

As a zebra when I look close
At another zebra close by,
All of those stripes do sure engross.
Gets me dizzy -I don't know why.
Sometimes I wonder if my stripes,
Which I cannot see all that well,
Are same as other zebras - yipes!
I really have no way to tell.
Being here at Lincoln Park Zoo,
I've heard of a thing called a mirror.
But I am not sure how to do
A requisition for one here.

My zebra zigging, zagging is
All of mine and none of your biz.

Sense Sonnet - Acher

Mruko R.I.P. - LP Zoo

Sad - Mruko has left the building,
The Lion House where she lived long
At the Lincoln Park Zoo, to bring
Human connection - good and strong.
Twenty six years, this serval cat
Held audiences in her paws,
Charmed from her indoor habitat,
A year long joy of sandy claws.
Lithely leaping about the rocks,
Or chowing down upon a meal,
Or long naps in her fav'rite box,
Small as cats go, but one big deal.

An oldie, goodie - time to go.
Thank you for being here - Mruko.

Sense Sonnet - Chiller

Suck the Sucker

Vampire bats fly into the night
To find some prey and suck some blood.
For prey of course tiz quite a fright.
But for me - excites my taste bud,
Cuz I am a vampire bat fly,
And hanging out at the bat roost.
When the vampire bats return, I
Select the ones that are best juiced,
And hop from bod to bod to dine,
Sucking the sucker, so to speak -
A dining habit that's all mine.
The outside world does get no peek.

Ick, bloody gory - some might say.
For me - a vampire bat buffet.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Hallo-bat-ween - LPZ

I am a bat and I love fruit -
A fruit bat at Lincoln Park Zoo,
Where I am always in pursuit
Of finding fruit where no fruit grew.
Tiz the season of Halloween.
A jack-o-lantern grins at me,
Carved eyes and mouth holes - in between
Some fresh, new grapes - how can this be!
I know the grapes did not grow there.
Of course this is a keeper thing.
They like to kid me, cuz they care,
Keeping me under keepers' wing.

Upside down, hanging by my feet,
I ponder the grapes' trick and treat.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Chicago - O'Hare

In Chicago, I am O'Hare,
The international airport.
I am reached by the world by air.
Biggest, busiest - brags I court.
My worst year was '79,
Taking off, Flight One Ninety One
Crashed into a runway of mine.
Hundreds on board - surviving none.
I got my name from a hero,
"Butch" O'Hare, the first flying ace
Who during World War II did go
To destiny in time and place.

ORD about me is what you see,
Cuz ORcharD Field I used to be.

Sense Sonnet - Chiller

Hog Wash

We pigs don't like the farmer here.
We are jammed into a small pen.
Often times when slop does appear,
We have to wash it off again,
Just so that it is edible.
The farmer sees that and does cuss.
The farmer is such a numbskull,
Not really understanding us.
We're muddy cuz we do not sweat,
But want our food to be clean.
And dirty the farmer did get,
Slipping and falling on the scene.

We washed the farmer off before
We ate that body up encore.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Golden's Bacon Turtle

A turtle with a pig like snout,
Living millions of years ago,
With all the dinosaurs about,
In Utah I did make my show.
Jerry Golden, a volunteer,
Did help to prep my bones so that
Inquiring humans that are here
Could learn more 'bout my habitat.
Shell included, 'bout two feet long.
Freshwater was my choice to hang.
Something happened and all went wrong,
And I am just a fossil - dang!

Golden's bacon turtle of fame,
And there's a burger by that name.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Electric (Fact) Eel (Fiction)

I generate electric charge
In the Amazon River flow.
Not an eel, but a fish quite large,
Human misnomer - doncha know!
I use electric to stun eats,
And navigate to find my meal,
Not human - but one of the treats
Is give'em juice and make'em squeal.
Why don't I zap myself you ask?
Well, my thick skin does insulate,
While I'm doing my tasing task.
But bumps in the road can frustrate.

I cut myself upon a rock,
And I can give me quite a shock.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Chicago - Wrigley Field

I was built in 1914
On a Chicago city block.
Wrigley Field had come to the scene,
Where Cubs baseball fever would rock.
Some decades later, ivy grew
Famously on my outfield walls.
Baseball officials made me do
Lights later for the night game balls.
Corner of Clark and Addison,
My main entry marquee does call
Of welcome to some magic fun,
The Friendly Confines beckon all.

Oh when, oh when will ever be
A World Series be played in me?

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Cubs '15 - LPZoo

On a day that was bitter sweet,
Red panda cubs made their debut,
After Chicago Cubs' defeat.
Life goes on at Lincoln Park Zoo.
Mom brought both Clark and Addison
To meet the public face to face.
The destiny has just begun
For the young Cubs' team, time and place.
That there will be a better day,
The Zoo does assure Wrigleyville.
We'll go together all the way.
World Series win - we can and will.

Clark and Addison do cheer.
Chicago Cubs had a great year.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Chicago - Playboy Mansion

I stand in Chicago's Gold Coast,
1340 North State Parkway.
Hugh Hefner (Hef) liked me the most,
And bought me for Playboys to stray.
70 rooms for frolic fun
With the skimpily clad bunnies,
In a classical French mansion,
A basement "grotto," if you please.
I was filled with pleasures galore.
A Playboy  could get anything.
Etched in Latin on the front door,
Saying, "If you don't swing, don't ring."

Hef left me for lure of L.A.
I'm a bunch of condos today.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Beeing of Service

Call me a competitive plant,
Out to beat other plants around,
Cuz bee biz can get very scant
Without some lure to keep them bound
To wanting to again return
To where I serve them up so sweet.
But also for a hit, bees yearn
A bit of bitter, but a treat.
And bees throughout the neighborhood
Do spread the news to visit me,
Making my pollen sale so good.
I'm smelling pretty as can be.

I get the more bee biz becuz
Caffeine does give the bees a buzz.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Chicago - The Loop

I got my name, most people say,
Cuz el train tracks went round and round.
And so tiz just a friendly way
To reference me where I be ground.
But my boundaries really bode
From Lake Michigan on the east,
And then south to Roosevelt Road.
On north and west my sides are creased
By the Chicago River flow.
I'm filled with lots of old and new
Fact and fiction the world does know.
There is no end to point of view.

I am the home to quite a group -
Downtown Chicago in The Loop.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Billy the Kid Shot

Billy the Kid of outlaw fame
Did not pose oft, apparently,
For picture takers to take aim.
Just one such photo found to be.
Sold for millions, the gun Kid posed,
Rifle and pistols, tools of trade -
The bizness side of Kid exposed,
Upon which all his cred was made.
Did the Kid have a softer side,
Taking some time out to relax?
Another photo's being spied,
Experts seeking to find the facts.

Billy the Kid of outlaw fame,
Did he shoot a mean croquet game?

Sense Sonnet - Acher

Chicago - The World's Fair's End

1893 was the year,
October 28th the night.
The Chicago World's Fair was near
Ending as a great success bright.
Mayor Carter Harrison prepared
A closing speech, wise and witty.
Thanks to the speeches he had aired,
Chicago dubbed the Windy City.
No more would the Mayor speechify.
A deranged assassin did shoot
Three bullets and the Mayor did die.
The World's Fair's grand ending went mute.

This World's Fair closed on a sad note,
The long speech unheard, the Mayor wrote.

Sense Sonnet - Acher

Playing Possum

As an opossum, I am skilled
At thanatosis, which I hear
Is seeming dead, unconscious willed,
When threatenings do cause me fear.
I do go dead in look and smell,
In involuntary response,
And fool intruders very well,
In very quite detailed nuance.
One being a death grimace grim,
With mouth wide open and teeth bared.
I went to a road on a whim.
My space with cars and trucks I shared.

Good at my playing possum skill
Went bad when I became road kill.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Chicago - The Stock Yards

The Yards was what the world called me.
Where Chicago did meet the meat,
Packed in over a century,
Butchered for all the world to eat.
The Chicago River did pump
Half a million gallons per day.
Loads of beast decay I did dump.
I did smell bad from long away.
Sinclair's "The Jungle" gave me shame.
Sinatra's  "My Kind of Town" sang.
Sandburg's "Chicago" gave me fame.
Tourists came to me, just to hang.

I was torn down in progress fate.
All that remains is my main gate.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

These Bones Will Talk

A farmer was digging his field,
Near Chelsea, Michigan, U.S.
And did get a surprising yield -
Me, not seen for a while, I guess.
'Bout 12,000 years, give or take,
These old bones have been under earth.
So catch up time I need to make.
My secrets will make the while worth.
Was it climate and/or man made
That sent me down into death deep.
I'm here and now to be of aid.
What caused me to take a dirt sleep?

A wooly mammoth, I be one,
And my story has just begun.

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Not So Dear Watson

James Watson got the Nobel Prize
For his work finding DNA.
These info molecules comprise
Why forms of life may act which way.
A case in point, Watson became,
Making racist, sexist comments.
"Avoid Boring People..." - his claim
To justify his bore offense.
Too much of a negative -ist,
Perhaps he should stay in the lab,
Doing work as a scientist
In silence, without all his gab.

DNA - Watson turned to gold.
His Nobel Prize for cash he sold.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Made the Pledge

Francis Bellamy - who am I?
The Pledge of Allegiance I wrote,
To give the school children a why
The U.S.A. flag to promote.
The Republic for which it stands,
One nation indivisible,
With two hard to achieve commands -
Liberty and justice for all.
And so the kids did take the lead,
Pledging daily in public school
To be good citizens indeed,
Giving allegiance as a rule.

"Under God" - later stuck in here,
Along with godless commie fear.

Sense Sonnet - Acher

Face of Betrayal

Da Vinci's "The Last Supper" shows
Judas, fourth from the left, as he
Hears words from Jesus that he knows
A betrayer in their midst be.
Judas, in shadow, head bent low,
Tipping over a bin of salt,
On the table by his elbow.
Does Jesus know it is his fault?
And clutching onto a small purse.
The silver pieces paid within?
To betray Christ - the Judas curse.
Judas forgiven of this sin!

The last to last in time and place,
Da Vinci painted face by face.

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Leif Erikson Day

Leif Erikson does have a day,
October 9th to be exact,
Proclaimed throughout the U.S.A.
He did beat Columbus in fact,
As first European to come
To the New World to "civilize,"
But gets less credit, so say some,
Because his trip did not give rise
To European migration,
In mass to a new time and place,
With old conquering to be done.
Columbus' trips ballooned that pace.

A pagan Viking - just no way
To get a Federal holiday.

Sense Sonnet -Pumper

Chicago - Skyscraper First

In Chicago, I rose to fame
As an architectual high.
Ten stories up and I did aim
First to be known to scrape the sky.
A frame of metal and not stone,
Because of me became the rule
That over time would be world known,
Architecture - Chicago school.
My start was met with mocking call,
But when done, I was one skilled thing.
The sight of me did marvel all,
Named the Home Insurance Building.

1931 depressed me.
I was torn down and ceased to be.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Good Luck Charm - LP Zoo

We're Cubbies, Clark and Addison,
Red pandas at Lincoln Park Zoo.
What have the Cubbies gone and done?
Off to a play off dream they do,
Just to honor us born is why.
A keeper had a hanky near
To dab the tears of joy I cry,
And I am hoarse from sounds of cheer.
Where is my brother, Clark, you ask?
He can't tailgate like sister can.
The game for him was too much task.
He is a fall asleep fast fan.

So tell the goat that we are here.
This is gonna be Cubbie's year.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

A Missing Link

In King Tut's tomb were near and dear
Remains discovered next to King.
Parents, wives and daughters all here,
To make his death a fam'ly thing.
But stepmom Nefertiti is
Still missing and a mystery.
So scientists are doing biz
To find where Nefertiti be?
She had a daughter Tut had wed.
Doubly related - so assume
Close ties alive and close ties dead,
And she'd be somewhere in Tut's tomb.

A discovery of such awe -
Nefertiti, mummy in law!

Sense Sonnet - Chiller

Chicago - Barn Burner

I, Louis Cohn, in this my Will,
Do hereby confess to the crime
Of causing my city great ill,
Destruction the worst of the time.
I was in the O'Leary barn,
Where I was not supposed to be,
Late at night. O'Leary came - darn!
So I took off in a hurry.
I knocked a lantern onto hay.
A fire started, and to my shame,
I did not stop and got away.
I heard that a cow got the blame.

I lived on as a silent liar,
Starting the Great Chicago Fire.