Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Fruit Pursuit

The polar bears are picnicking
At home in the Lincoln Park Zoo.
One watermelon is the thing
Craved by Talini and Siku.
Talini's in no mood to share -
Watermelon clenched in her jaw,
And runs with it as if to dare
Siku to grab it with his paw.
Siku gives Talini a chase,
But Talini as last was seen
Was able to Siku outpace,
And was the watermelon queen.

Gentleman that Siku does be
Let the lady win, probably.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Flamingo Nap - LP Zoo

When this flamingo does get tired,
Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo.
I am so glad my neck is wired
To do around about I do,
For a feathered pillow to find,
And get a bit of swell shut eye.
My backside feathers do not mind
For rest stop measures to apply.
I get the quick nap that I need,
A few sweet dreams in feathered bliss,
A marvel to behold indeed,
For all who may be watching this.

Whenever I catch a quick wink,
I feel so much more in the pink.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Bushman the Great - LP Zoo

Bushman was a gorilla great.
His home was the Lincoln park Zoo.
All of the world did celebrate
Him - famous celebrity true.
Over many years, millions came
To visit Bushman in real time.
He was unique with all his fame.
Upon his fav'rite chair he'd climb,
And sit while visitors came by.
One wonders what he must have thought
Of these many humans and why
His presence all these many sought!

The Bushman years did come to be
A big part of Zoo legacy.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Plastic Straw

The plastic straw soon becomes  waste,
And thereafter is thrown away,
As pollution, becomes encased,
Because plastic does not decay.
It's taken far too long but now
There's plastic straw alternatives.
Consumers are finding out how
A changeable bad habit gives
The environment a better chance
To recover from plastic woe,
Now too often the circumstance,
And it really sucks - doncha know!

Now here's a fact of shock and awe -
The first straws were made from real straw!

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Blurred Vision - LP Zoo

This rhino has an eye on you,
Watching as you do walk about,
Near me at the Lincoln Park Zoo,
And you are watching me no doubt.
We rhinos do not see real well,
So sometimes you are just a blur.
In the wild it is hard to tell
If you are friend or foe, for sure.
So if I saw you in the wild
You'd be a foe, would be my guess,
And your presence would get me riled,
And so I would charge at you - yes!

But here at the Zoo I know that
All are friends at my habitat.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Milestone - LP Zoo

Happy Birthday Lincoln Park Zoo,
150 years old.
Polar bears and gorillas too
Do get the numbers to behold.
Each one, each five, each zero does
Contain an appropriate treat,
And so each number counts becuz
Therein is something good to eat.
The celebration will go on
All the rest of twenty eighteen,
An exciting phenomenon
For all who are on the Zoo scene.

Come to the Zoo and celebrate
One hundred and fifty years great.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Yanny or Laurel?

Yanny or Laurel - what do you hear?
And so a new Twitter debate.
Who really had the better ear,
Inquiring minds did contemplate.
The same audio clip - some heard
Yanny very distinctively.
But others did hear the Laurel word.
It all comes down to frequency,
And how each person's brain is wired.
What's really heard - each brain does choose,
Sometimes by chance, sometimes desired.
Sometimes by mischief to confuse.

Mindful or mindless to inquire,
Each brain of course lets loose a wire.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Tongue Sticker Outer - LP Zoo

I do stick out my tongue, I do.
Cuz that's just what a giraffe does.
I do it at Lincoln Park Zoo.
Cuz why? - that's where I be at, cuz!
My tongue is 18 inches long,
And is prehensile - what's that mean?
It means my tongue is very strong
To pull from trees the leafy green.
My tongue around the leaves does wrap,
And pulls them into my mouth, and
It is an awesome means to trap
Reluctant leaves, you understand!

And any thorns my tongue might hit
Do not bother my tongue one bit.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Swan Start - LP Zoo

Happy Birthday Lincoln Park Zoo,
One hundred and fifty years old.
In 1868, swans - two
Were gifted and the Zoo took hold
In the city of Chicago.
More animals were added, and
Acre by acre it did grow,
Becoming a great promised land,
Not only in the neighborhood,
But doing work the world around,
For animals for better good,
For wildlife for all to abound.

Two swans still at the Zoo do be
For visitors to see for free.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Finely Meets Etana - LP Zoo

Finely, a two year old giraffe
Has arrived at Lincoln Park Zoo.
Etana's never had a calf,
So for her this is something new.
Even at 20 not too old
To be feeling maternal joy,
Able with her big heart of gold
To adopt this precious cute boy.
This old and young will share this home,
And so many good memories,
As through their habitat they roam,
Attracting visitors to please.

Etana's thinking, "What the heck!"
And takes Finely under her neck.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Finely Arrives - LP Zoo

I am Finely, how do you do!
I am new to the neighborhood,
Better known as Lincoln Park Zoo,
For this giraffe, so far so good,
My roomie is an older gal.
I am two and she is twenty.
I hope to be Etana's pal.
I'm sure she can teach me plenty.
Right now I'm a growing boy still,
At 14 feet, not tall enough.
Taller Etana sometimes will
Look down and call out, "Hey short stuff."

But then I know she's kidding when
She gives me a big friendly grin.

Sense Sonnet - Chiller

"Eggs"it

From an egg a dinosaur came.
What inquiring minds want to know -
Did the dinosaur do the same
As modern egg hatching does go?
If the dinosaur sat upon
The eggs to help the eggs hatch, then
How did the weight phenomenon
Not result in crushing eggs when?
The theory is the eggs were set
In a ring and the dinosaur
Sat in the middle, so to let
The eggs round be protected more.

No doubt some dinosaur eggs were
Victims of oops crushing for sure.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Kim

A regal jumping spider, Kim,
For the first time was trained to jump
By scientists, not on a whim,
But to give robotics a bump,
In better understanding more
The biomechanics behind
Kim's awesome precision jumps for
A good jumping robot in mind.
At first scientists did move
Kim back and forth from start to end,
Until Kim got into the groove
Of jumping in a solo trend.

One day a jumping robot will
Serve us, thanks to Kim's jumping skill.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Bed Setting - LP Zoo

And now I lay me down to sleep,
Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo.
I pray that this chimp can sure keep
Sweet dreams while snoozing, yes I do.
I've made my bed of shaved up wood
That the keepers provide for me.
It's soft and snuggly and so good
For awesome sleep to come to be.
My bed's arranged just like a nest.
I need to make it all just right.
Of course my bed's the very best
To curl up perfect - snug and tight.

And when it all is done and said,
I am ready to hit the bed.

Sense Sonnet -Pumper

Going to the Ball - LP Zoo

Tonight at the Lincoln Park Zoo
The Zoo-ologie Ball will be.
This lemur plans to go, I do,
Because I can get in for free.
"Walk on the Wild Side" is the theme,
And that's the only way I walk.
In fact I'll prob'ly seem extreme,
And give the humans quite a shock.
Yes, it is a dressy affair,
And I will wear my finest fur,
But no glass slippers will I wear.
I will be barefooted, for sure.

Don't mistake this lemur fella
For another Cinderella.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Ever Preen - LP Zoo

I do like looking good, I do.
This flamingo does often preen
Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo,
To look good on the public scene.
With my long and flexible neck
I can maneuver my neck so
All my bod is at call and beck
For touch ups on this flamingo.
Any feather in any place
Is within my preening outreach.
I will take care of any case
For feathers so fine - all and each.

Come visit me and check me out.
I will be looking good, no doubt!

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Record Low

The Mariana Trench that's found
In the Pacific Ocean is
The deepest point of all around,
36,000 feet - gee whiz!
Some pictures have been taken there,
And scientists have found therein
A piece of trivia to share -
Pollution striking once again,
An object somehow going to
Such a low from the surface high,
And therefore managing to do
A record setting first thereby.

A record held, but not to brag -
The deepest trash - a plastic bag.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

I Eyeball - LP Zoo

I do a great eyeball, I do.
This chameleon gets it on,
Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo.
I am an eye phenomenon.
My eyes move independently,
Any and all directions, so
Nothing around me I can't see.
I've got it covered, doncha know!
Yes, my fav'rite to come in sight
Would be a tasty bug so that
I would focus on it just right,
A habit in my habitat.

A bug eyeballed is a bug soon
To be a chow down opportune.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Puerto Rican Parrot - LP Zoo

A Puerto Rican parrot, I
Am visiting Lincoln Park Zoo,
To help conserve my kind is why,
Because my kind are very few.
With poaching, with habitat loss,
With hurricanes, we just about
Had an extinction come across -
Did not look good for us, no doubt.
But thanks to help from human friends,
A Recovery Program began.
The increasing of us depends
On this good conservation plan.

Come visit me and we can talk.
Well actually, I tend to squawk.

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Kilauea

Hawaii's Kilauea goes,
Spreading the lava all about,
Not in eruptions but in flows,
But still a scary act, no doubt.
This volcano is of type shield,
That oozes rather than explode,
Forming a sloping lava yield,
But still with danger to forbode.
When oozing forth the lava moves
Wherever it does seek to roam.
Anything found within its grooves
Is destroyed and no longer home.

People gamble in paradise,
Living with toss of pair of dice.

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Muggletonian

Beginning in 1651,
The Muggletonians appeared,
Believing Christ was God, not son,
Only Jesus should be revered.
Lodowicke Muggleton was who
The sect was named after, and he
Did spend his whole life trying to
Do what the sect believed to be.
He died at age of 88,
And was buried in New Churchyard,
Thinking perhaps his future fate
Was second coming - no regard.

Still buried, Muggleton's all set,
But second coming - no not yet!

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Attired - LP Zoo

What does this black bear love to do?
I love to play with an old tire,
Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo.
It is a thing that does inspire.
Oft I will wear the tire around
My body low or mid or high.
The sight of this does sure astound
Visitors as they do walk by.
Some visitors think I am stuck,
And go to keepers in alarm.
Humans are easily awestruck.
I guess that's part of human charm.

But when it all is said and done,
I never tire of having fun.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Good Question!

Baby snake did ask Mama snake
Were they of the poisonous kind?
Mama said yes, for safety sake,
For any dangers they might find,
Like if an animal came near
And seemed to be troublesome so
A bite would seem to then be clear,
So off the animal would go.
Baby snake seemed quite nervous still,
So Mama asked Baby snake why?
This worry, Baby's mind did fill,
And Baby snake did thus reply,

"I'm high upon my worry scale."
"I just bit myself on my tail!"

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Chicken Meating

During World War II, the U.S
Rationed meat, so chicken became
Popular for their eggs - good guess!
Post war the chicken found new fame.
Chicken of Tomorrow contest
Sponsored by the U.S.D.A.
To breed a chicken that was best
In a sumptuous meat type way.
And the contest was a big hit.
Meatier chickens came about
For consumption to do their bit
For finger licking good - no doubt!

Chickens still produce eggs of course,
But for their meat, they are a force.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

The Babe Showed Up

Babe Ruth was told of a young boy
Who lived nearby and gravely ill.
A signed baseball would be the joy,
The young boy's dream - could Ruth fulfill?
The Babe was happy to comply,
And chose to visit the boy so
He could give to the little guy
Some signed baseballs - the boy did glow.
The Babe and the boy talked baseball,
Sharing the magic of the game.
In that time and place, best of all,
Good feel over bad overcame.

Was this done for publicity?
Who knows - a boy's dream came to be.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Kagu, the Digger - LP Zoo

I do dig for bugs, yes I do.
That's what us kagu birds do eat
Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo.
The keepers keep me bugged - ah sweet!
But come to the Bird House and see
Me digging often in the ground.
I just do it instinctively.
Here and there a bug I have found.
Notice the skin flaps on my beak,
Covering my nostrils so that
I don't snort in lots of dirt - eek!
Then I'd sneeze up my habitat.

I guess it could be said I s'pose.
Clean hygiene, yes, this kagu nose.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Moving Gesture - LP Zoo

I saw the little human lass
Trying to see us penguin crew,
Yearning to see a penguin pass
Close to her at Lincoln Park Zoo.
Through the window the girl did peer,
But not one penguin in the pool.
All to see was the water clear,
So I chose to do something cool.
This penguin into the wet went,
And swam to the lass, eye to eye.
She was thrilled, 'twas so evident
That just for her I had come by.

Come to the Zoo and you can find
Close encounters of the bird kind.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Umande and Mosi - LP Zoo

They love to play, oh yes they do.
Umande and Mosi play tag
At home in the Lincoln Park Zoo.
Gorilla boys are known to brag.
At the habitat, in and out,
Back and forth the chase does go on,
Chasing and being chased about,
A dizzying phenomenon.
The boys will be boys, yes they will.
It is the challenge of the run,
Both showing off their nimble skill,
And watching them is so much fun.

You can watch them play their tag game,
And be so happy that you came.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Oliver the First - LP Zoo

The tests are in and it's a boy!
African penguin chick hatched new,
A first timer bundle of joy,
At home in the Lincoln Park Zoo.
Robben's the Mom, Preston's the Dad,
And Oliver's the new guy's name.
The penguin colony is glad
For good news that Oliver came.
The keepers help to celebrate,
Producing a laser light show.
Oliver does not hesitate,
And after the light he does go.

Come to the Zoo and all of sure
Will fall in love with Oliver.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Paatsy's Up - LP Zoo

I do sleep during day I do.
So often I will be asleep
When you visit Lincoln Park Zoo,
Curled up in my den all aheap.
But early morn, late afternoon,
You maybe will see me about,
With freshly dug up dirt astrewn,
In my searching for food, no doubt.
The keepers keep me fresh supplied
With kinds of food I like to eat,
But instinct cannot be denied.
I still do dig for a bug treat.

In African Journey find me,
Paatsy, the aardvark, I will be.