Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Albert Ireland

Albert Ireland, U.S. Marine,

Received nine Purple Hearts in all

For wounds that he received between

Two wars performing duty call.

Five Purple Hearts in World War II,

And during the Korean War,

As the number of his wounds grew,

Purple Hearts - he received four more.

This gave Albert the distinction

Of receiving most Purple Hearts

For his service than anyone

Across all the service branch parts.

Staff Sergeant Albert Ireland be

Deserving thanks from his country.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo, fifth of May

In the year eighteen sixty two,

A Mexican victory day,

With a defeat of the French who

Sought to take over Mexico.

General Zaragoza did lead,

Against the mighty French force foe,

His rag tag Mexicans indeed,

In the Battle of Pueblo town,

To a morale boosting big win

That in history would go down -

Mexico's freedom did begin.

Cinco de Mayo is a date

That still's a day to celebrate.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Game On - LP Zoo

Armadillo Duran does do

Some foraging through some fake grass

Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo.

Through the cloth "blades" his nose does pass.

This enrichment the keeper did

Put inside Duran's habitat.

In the fake grass mealworms are hid

For Duran to sense and go at.

Duran uses his super sniff

In search of the prey like a pro,

And finds the mealworms in a jif.

Down into his tummy they go.

Yes, for Duran the game is on

Until ev'ry mealworm is gone.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Reemerging Youth - LP Zoo

The young gorilla boy stares at

The crowds of people coming to

Visit him in his habitat

Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo.

It has been over a year since

Covid closed the Ape Center down,

Social distance the consequence

For all around Chicago town.

But now visitors can once more

Come into the Ape Center and

Connect with wildlife as before.

The young gorilla shares firsthand.

At first he is a little shy,

But soon's back to the show off guy.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Butt for... - LP Zoo

The guy goats play a game, they do.

They play the goat king of the hill

At Lincoln Park Farm in the Zoo,

Showing off artful dodging skill.

In the goat yard are flat rocks that

Make a hill in a layered stack,

Letting the goats each take turns at

Climbing up and down, forth and back.

The butting of heads is the way

The goats challenge each other for

Getting the top rock place to stay

Till another goat wants it more.

There is a lot of head game stuff.

A head butt can be real or bluff.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Welcome Murray - LP Zoo

Murray, a white cheeked gibbon, who

Comes to keep Burma company

Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo,

Quite a cute couple, he and she.

Burma's been alone 'bout a year.

Only humans have been near her.

Now stranger Murray does appear -

A big change for Burma for sure.

Hopefully Murray will do well

Getting onto Burma's good side.

Living together, time will tell

Whether Burma is satisfied.

Main point Burma will get across -

White cheeked gibbon females are boss.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 My "Singing" Son - LP Zoo

I hear my son who's almost two

Sing me a song this Mother's Day

Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo.

His singing's awful - that's okay

Because it's a loving sound that

Comes from his heart and to my ears,

And echoes through the habitat

That ev'rybody 'round us hears.

Big bellow from my little boy

Pierces the air so booming loud

That comes from my bundle of joy

Makes this gorilla Mom so proud.

This Mother's Day I know that I

Hear "Love you Mom" from my sweet guy.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Welcome Sonny - LP Zoo

Sonny, the meerkat, he does do

A joining up with the three gals

Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo.

Hopefully soon all will be pals.

Queen and her two daughters do seem

To be welcoming Sonny here,

Letting him join in the mob team

As a full fledged fourth meerkateer.

If all goes well Sonny might mate

With the gals so that there can be

A time to come on future date

More in the meerkat family.

Welcome Sonny, you lucky guy.

The ladies await - don't be shy.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Frigate Birds

The frigate birds are seabirds that

Fly over oceans day and night.

The air is their main habitat.

Most of their life they stay in flight.

Able to soar for weeks upon

Wind currents, frigate birds do fly,

Ever searching from dusk to dawn

Waters below while in the sky.

Able to see food in the sea,

The frigate bird dives down and will

Snatch up the food piece expertly

From the water with long hooked bill.

While in the air where they do dwell

The frigate birds do sleep as well.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Danny's Promise

Danny Thomas in church did make

A promise to St. Jude that he,

If successful, would undertake

A cause in St. Jude's memory.

Saint of hopeless causes, St. Jude

Became for Danny cause for hope.

As show business success ensued,

A dream for good widened in scope.

In Memphis, Tennessee began

A childrens' hospital to cure

Cancers over a worldwide span,

A good and hopeful cause for sure.

Thanks to a promise Danny made

Children survive in cure crusade.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Welcome Zamu - LP Zoo

Female red river hog, Zamu,

Has come to be male Nox's mate

Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo.

The couple has begun to date.

Hopefully Cupid's arrow will hit,

And a love story will occur.

Zamu is talkative a bit,

Liking to chatter lots for sure.

Quiet and reserved Nox is

Not sure what to make of it all.

With getting this attention biz,

But he's letting her make the call.

Welcome Zamu, and hopefully

There's coming a hog family.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 First Pitch

The year was nineteen forty one.

April twenty sixth was the day.

The place, Wrigley Field, was begun

A new milestone of baseball play.

First time at a pro baseball game

Music from an organ was heard.

To rouse the crowd there was the aim.

By all accounts the crowd was stirred.

Some legal complications stilled

The organ play on some tunes due

To radio rights unfulfilled.

Lawyers listened, waiting to sue.

Air the Cubs' team song at the time

Would have been a broadcasting crime.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Toe to Toe - LP Zoo

Some hammock hanging out I do,

This two toed sloth does happily

Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo,

Watching my parents watching me.

Mom and Dad do live right next door

In the Small Mammal House inside.

So we see each other galore -

Hard for any of us to hide.

Right now I'm watching Mom and Dad

As in the hammock I do curl.

They watch me back and I am glad

They care about their little girl.

To keep in touch we have a knack

Of two toed waving forth and back.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Making Aware - LP Zoo

A Jamaican iguana is

A lounging lizard type like me,

Just content to mind my own biz,

Stretched out on a limb of a tree.

Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo

I'm visited by humankind,

All shapes and sizes of folks who

Come stare at me, but I don't mind.

I have a job to do here that

Is to get humans more involved

In my Jamaican habitat,

So human made problems be solved.

So here I be from head to tail

To help my kind to tip the scale.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Rae Turns 4 - LP Zoo

Giraffe, Rae girl, is growing up

Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo.

She turns four years old today - yup!

Enjoying birthday browse for two,

She invites her buddy, Finely,

To share in goodies hanging high,

Taking turns stretching neckedly

To nibble treats, this gal and guy.

Birthday girl Rae is growing fast,

Almost taller than Finely boy,

Thanks to genes, she may soon grow past

Her pal, a measure she'll enjoy.

Here's to a Happy Fourth Birthday

For a growing taller girl, Rae.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Monty and Rose

Monty and Rose, bird couple who

Spend their summers at Montrose Beach

In Chicago where both birds do

Lots of conservation outreach.

Great Lakes piping plovers, they be

Ambassadors for species that

Is endangered primarily

For loss of lake shore habitat.

In winter time they separate.

Destined to Florida be Rose,

Bidding a so long to her mate

As off to Texas, Monty goes.

But hopefully each summer quest -

Back to Chicago to both nest.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Top "Hat" - LP Zoo

Victoria crowned pigeon I be.

I do be quite a sight, I do.

Visitors like to look at me

Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo.

Upon my head my feather crest

Is my signature feature fine,

Blue lace like elegance - the best

For sure fanciest in design.

I love to show off my headwear,

Gregariously strutting 'bout,

Holding my head high in the air,

A crowning achievement no doubt.

The Derby's where I should be at,

Wowing the crowds there with my "hat."

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Fig Hunter- LP Zoo

As a fairy bluebird, I do

Dwell in the Bird House, heard and seen

Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo.

I, male in blue, females in green.

From Asian rain forests my kind

Be an endangered bird species,

And becoming harder to find,

Though we blend in to forest trees.

Our favorite food is fruit,

Especially figs, and so we

Fly through the trees in fig pursuit,

Singing a song while in flight be.

Next time you're in the Bird House, look

For me flying from nook to nook.

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

 Earth Day '21, African Penguin - LP Zoo

On Earth Day, twenty twenty one

Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo

Conservation work's being done,

But so much more we need to do.

The African penguins do be

An endangered bird species that,

Due to human activity,

Is losing lots of habitat.

The loss of local fish supply

And the loss of good nesting place

Are two of the main reasons why

These birds decrease at increased pace.

Support the efforts to assure

This bird's future will be secure.

Sense Sonnet - Acher

 Earth Day '21, Polar Bear - LP Zoo

On Earth Day, twenty twenty one

Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo

Conservation work's being done, 

But so much more we need to do.

Endangered be the polar bear

Who's losing arctic habitat,

As fuel pollutants warm the air.

We humans burn fossil fuels that

Over time in the atmosphere

Will melt the arctic ice until

All polar bears will disappear.

There's time humans can change this still.

Use fossil fuel alternative,

Give polar bears the chance to live.

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

 Earth Day '21, Western Lowland Gorilla - LP Zoo

On Earth Day, twenty twenty one

Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo

Conservation work's being done,

But so much more we need to do.

Western lowland gorillas be

An endangered ape species that

Are losing very rapidly

Their west African habitat.

Humans are cutting down the trees,

Leaving the land wasted and bare,

Homeless gorilla refugees

No longer able to live there.

Support enterprises that use

Good forest plans that don't abuse.

Sense Sonnet - Acher

 Earth Day '21, Eastern Black Rhino - LP Zoo

On Earth Day, twenty twenty one

Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo

Conservation work's being done,

But so much more we need to do.

The eastern black rhino does be

An endangered animal that

Is being killed relentlessly

By poachers, and we need combat

Such slaughter that is solely borne

By the belief that does exist

Of cure power in rhino horn,

Proven fiction that does persist.

Efforts to stop such poaching crime

Need be strengthened while there's still time.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Earth Day '21, Jamaican Iguana - LP Zoo

On Earth Day, twenty twenty one

Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo

Conservation work's being done,

But so much more we need to do.

Jamaican iguanas do be

Endangered lizard reptiles that

Are being raised in Zoos safely.

Then to Jamaica habitat

Are being returned to the wild

In protected areas where

Increased numbers have been compiled,

A comeback for this species there.

Recovery support is linked

To save this species thought extinct. 

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

 Just Is Harder

The white cop in the U.S.A.

Now's in a hard place and hard time

While on the job each night and day

Serving the public against crime.

If a suspect turns out non white,

The white cop needs to realize

He or she has an added plight

If that suspect is hurt or dies.

Many a white cop probably

Will give non white suspects a pass.

Non white criminals will go free.

White cops will disappear en masse.

Non white criminals know there is

Now better odds in the crime biz.

Sense Sonnet - Chiller

 Rocks on Walks

In Death Valley for centuries

Large rocks have moved along the ground.

One of the local mysteries -

How can these rocks be motion bound?

The rocks leave pathways in the sand

With no other markings nearby.

Humans do seek to understand

How can these large rocks move and why?

There are a lot of theories of

What might be making these rocks go.

Perhaps it's UFOs above.

Perhaps it's due to ice below.

Whatever forces do propel

These rocks is yet a truth to tell.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Be Hop Bikki - LP Zoo

Bikki, the brush tailed bettong, be

Australian marsupial who

Is most active nocturnally

Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo.

Like a small kangaroo she can

Hop quickly 'round her habitat,

In short time covering wide span,

Arriving where she started at.

A living boomerang come back,

Stopping a while to take a rest

Before resuming her fast track

'Round her territory with zest.

Need to be on the move is strong

When Bikki's on her hop-a-long.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

 Dare Ya!

On a golf course I do be found.

A warm and sunny day it is.

I am sunning upon the ground,

And am just minding my own biz.

I feel something roll on my back.

I spy a golf ball now is there.

I'm not bothered by this attack

That dropped in on me from the air.

I know it is a human game

Where humans whack these balls about.

I am not sure about the aim.

I am not the target no doubt.

Will this golfer hazard a play?

I watch him walk this gator's way.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 The Slider - LP Zoo

I am a river otter who

Likes to have a river of fun

Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo.

For water sliding - I'm the one.

To the top of the water slide

Is a spot where I'm often at,

And then on my belly I ride

Down, down, down in my habitat.

Then up, up, up I climb once more

In repetition down and up,

Doing lots of sliding galore

On a mission of motion - yup!

The water sliding urge in me

Does take me over otterly.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Taking Turns - LP Zoo

This meerkat's been appointed to

Stand lone sentinel for a while

Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo,

And do so in instinctive style.

Both eyes look upward to the skies,

Shielded against a glaring sun,

To detect any threat that flies.

Ready to voice alert to run,

Even though no predators be

Here in the safe Zoo habitat.

Guarding still comes instinctively,

A duty done by this meerkat.

This meerkat does guard duty 'til

Another takes the job to fill.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Whale of a Song

The sound of music whales do make

In underwater unison,

As though intent to undertake

Communication one by one.

In ocean basins 'round the world

The whales do join in harmony,

In similar pattern unfurled,

To share a song mutually.

What be the purpose is unknown,

A secret only whales do know,

Chorused a while in coded tone,

Vibrating through the water flow.

In fulfillment of shared desire,

Whales do join in a worldwide choir.

Sense Sonnet - Chiller

 Hope Diamond

The Hope diamond did come to be

Known for the "curse" surrounding it.

Touching the stone allegedly

Would bring misfortune to befit

Those who would dare to touch the eye

Of Asian goddess, Situ, and

Incur her wrath and surely die.

Most likely such reports were planned

So as to add to the mystique

Of the Hope to enhance its sale

Value as a bauble unique,

By spreading such a fate tall tale.

The Smithsonian's held the stone

For decades and no ill fate's known.