Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 The Dozer - LP Zoo

This sloth does love to nap, I do,

And take each opportunity

Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo

To snooze away so peacefully.

All curled up in my hammock, I

Drift into a doze dreamland that

Fills up most of the time of my

What to do in my habitat.

Snoozing is a worthy pursuit,

Fulfilling demands of my job

Which is to always appear cute,

And I am while napping a gob.

So odds are when I'm on display,

You will catch me snoozing away.

Sense Sonnet - Acher

 Homesick

I hopped a bus, this city frog,

And headed for the countryside,

Curious in my travelogue

If I would feel more gratified

Living the lily pad pond life,

Where the travel agent told me

Would be without the stress and strife

That city life does tend to be.

I checked into a pond with pad,

And wiggled my toes in the loam.

It was boring and I was glad

When it came time to head back home.

Back to my city life I went,

Missing the feel of hot cement.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Stick to My Job - LP Zoo

I'm an Amazon milk frog who

Likes to stick to a strict routine

Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo.

So lots of time I can be seen

Adhering to the wall of glass

On the side of my habitat,

Watching human visitors pass.

On my toes are suction cups that

Let me stick to the glass while I

Spend some time in this open place

To watch the crowds as all go by,

Putting on my welcoming face.

A connecting job I have got,

And try to stick to it a lot.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

 Io Sono

The "Io Sono" (I am) be

An invisible sculpture that,

Even though nobody can see,

Is on display to be peeked at.

The sculptor assures one and all

That his sculpture is really there

To be imagined to enthrall

With its form of spirit and air.

An unnamed buyer really paid

Over eighteen thousand bucks for

The unseen work of art displayed

In a take it on faith decor.

One thing about this art that's real -

It will be hard for thieves to steal.

Sense Sonnet - Acher

 One Bird Unheard

While walking through the woods one day

I spied a parrot in a tree.

Wondering if the bird might say

Something important just for me,

I sat down and prepared to write

Down what the parrot had to speak,

All the profound and wise insight

That could come from the parrot's beak.

Pen and paper in hand I sat

And waited patiently to hear

What the parrot would tell me that

Would only be meant for my ear.

Hours went by and not one word

Was spoken to me by this bird.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Garden Browse - LP Zoo

Trumpeter swans, Clover and Moe,

Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo,

Strut in the garden on the go,

Enjoying the blooms these two do.

While through the flowers both do move,

They trumpet this and trumpet that,

Each one in a talkative groove,

Long necks a bobbing as they chat.

They strut the garden checking out

Possible edibles to eat,

Both in a salad mood no doubt,

The menu viewed on moving feet.

In discussion as if to say,

"What is the special of the day?"

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Aardvark in Aaction - LP Zoo

Paatsy, the aardvark, has a knack,

Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo,

For getting a hard to get snack.

Paatsy has got lots of can do.

The keepers keep her on the think.

They put into her habitat

A box of yummy snacks, wink, wink.

Small holes are the only way that

She can get at the snacks inside.

Long, narrow, sticky to secure,

Some tongue action is then applied,

And the snacks are pulled out to her.

When a how to do it does be,

Aardvark Paatsy does awesomely.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Sign On

Chinese calendar - year of me,

Year of the monkey and I'm sure

That this young girl will grow to be

Better for having me with her.

Whatever she wants out of life -

Maybe a fabulous career,

Maybe being mother and wife,

I will always be with her near.

Whatever time, whatever place,

She can take ups and downs in stride.

Whatever good or bad she face,

I will be nearby at her side.

She knows I'll always be her friend

From her beginning to her end.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Bring on the Puzzle - LP Zoo

Miss Minnie, the northern tree shrew,

Really loves solving puzzles solving that,

Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo,

Keepers place in her habitat.

A keeper coming in she sees

Carrying a box of some kind.

And Minnie is hoping that she's

Soon gonna get to use her mind

To solve another puzzle and

Be rewarded for job well done -

A yummy treat that tastes so grand.

Minnie anticipates the fun.

For Minnie the outcome is sure.

No puzzle is too hard for her.

Sense Sonnet - Acher

 Crispus Attucks

Crispus Attucks, a black man who

Was first American to die

In the revolution that grew

The U.S.A. - freedom was why.

Seventeen seventy he be

A colonist in Boston town

Confronting British tyranny.

The British troops shot Crispus down.

John Adams, future President,

Defended British soldiers for

Killing Crispus cuz he dared vent

A madness that could start a war.

In the cemetery at the back

Was buried Crispus since he was black.

Sense Sonnet - Acher

 Fairness in Flux

Transgendered females in sports with

Cisgendered females - fair or not?

Body advantage - fact or myth?

Simple answers are being sought.

Even if studies show one day

Transgendered have an edge in sport,

Should transgendered be banned from play

With cisgendered on field and court?

U.S.A. culture is in change.

Transgendered rights are on the rise.

Fair play rules are in rearrange.

Accommodation now applies.

Maybe it's fair, maybe it's not,

But it's the culture we've now got.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Funsters - LP Zoo

Mondika and Djeke are two

Young gorilla bro boys, both that,

Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo,

Love exploring their habitat.

Different Moms and the same Dad,

Both turning two years old this year,

Lots of together time be had

As both operate in high gear,

Swinging through adventures each day,

Ever in search of something fun,

Something that calls to them, "Let's play."

And off they scamper one on one.

Djeke and Mondika be bound

Off to wherever fun be found.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 The What's New Crew - LP Zoo

Two ostriches do strut, they do,

Checking out this, checking out that

Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo,

Check what's up in their habitat.

They know the keepers did stop by,

And probably left something nice,

Waiting for a keen ostrich eye

To come upon and to entice

Both the ostriches together

To share whatever new's been found.

And so both birds of a feather

Are on a mission purpose bound.

It's a challenge for her and her.

Both birds are up to it for sure.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Rebound

North Carolina refuge be

The only place where red wolves roam

Wild and not in captivity,

Rebounding back in this safe home

From the brink of being extinct.

In Zoos around the U.S.A.

Newborn red wolves are being linked

To refuge foster Moms so they

Can be raised in a manner that

Gives the red wolf species a new

Lease on life in wild habitat,

A conservation hope come true.

Twenty five red wolves now thrive here.

Hopefully more will soon appear.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 This Monkey Shines - LP Zoo

White faced saki monkey, Lilo,

A puzzle solving monkey who

Does put her awesome skills on show

Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo.

When a new puzzle does show up,

Lilo quickly gets busy at

Taking the challenge in hand, yup,

With twists of this and turns of that,

Putting her mind, body and soul

Into efforts so monkey wise

Until she succeeds at her goal,

Grabbing hold of the yummy prize.

When Lilo's on the case for sure

No puzzle is too hard for her.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Murray the Gibbon - LP Zoo

I'm Murray, white cheeked gibbon, who

Is a new and a swinging guy

Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo,

And like to keep a watchful eye

On all the humans visiting.

Sometimes while I am taking peeks,

I'll get into the mood to sing,

Opening wide my white furred cheeks.

"Look at that monkey," some folks say.

I don't correct, being polite.

To err is human - I know they

Can research me and get it right.

Not a monkey a gibbon be.

I am in the ape family.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Buffalo Soldiers

U.S. Army, 10th Cavalry

In 1866 became

The first black regiment to be.

Buffalo soldiers got their name

From native Americans who

Battled them and were aware

That like the buffalo fur grew

These soldiers had dark, curly hair.

During the Indian Wars they

Did earn respect from friend and foe.

Buffalo soldiers did display

Courage through fights to undergo.

Also, these soldiers had to fight

Prejudice coming from some white.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Delasol Turns 30 - LP Zoo

Happy Birthday to Delasol,

Bolivian gray titi who

Hit the 30 year old goal

Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo.

The oldest of her species in

North American Zoos today.

Mom and mate to her monkey kin,

She's aged in a lady like way.

In the Primate House she is at,

Living with mate and son, two males.

And she's boss of their habitat,

Hanging together, entwined tails.

Delasol, Happy Birthday for

Your 30 years and many more.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 First Smell, Then Touch - LP Zoo

This sloth does not see and hear well,

Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo,

But have terrific touch and smell.

And so I use these senses to

Determine if and when I be

Given by keepers food to dine.

First my nose knows and signals me

That lunch is served and make it mine.

So following the scent I go.

It takes a while cuz pretty much

When I make moves I take it slow.

Once there I check the food by touch.

With food in my two toes embraced,

I use my favorite sense - taste!

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Grace O'Malley

Grace O'Malley, the pirate queen,

Gave England's Liz the First much woe.

A fighting Irish gal on scene,

Sailing to plunder to and fro.

Affectionately called "Bald Grace,"

Because she kept her red hair shorn,

So not to interfere with pace

Of sailing seas in battles borne.

Even while pregnant she would be

Leading her men to pirate on,

In and around the Irish Sea,

Chasing English from dusk to dawn.

In Irish folklore she became

A freedom fighter praised by name.

Sense Sonnet - Chiller

 Helpless Host

I awake one morning to find

Huge insect like creatures around

My bed - was I losing my mind?

The creatures made a clicking sound.

They would not let me leave my bed,

And forced a liquid down my throat.

All I could do - lie still in dread,

As my body began to bloat.

Then I watched my stomach skin squirm.

My body shook in awful fear,

As popping out - a wiggling worm,

Followed by many to appear.

While I had been in sleeping rest,

I'd been chosen for breeding nest.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Most Southern Roots

South America southernmost,

Humans find a Magellan beech

On a shore off of Cape Horn's coast.

The tree, the humans deem, does reach

The furthest south on planet Earth,

Estimated forty years old,

Just two feet high, two inch trunk girth,

Bent sideways from the wind and cold.

The humans are excited that

This southernmost tree they have found

Surviving in a habitat

Hard for many trees to abound.

This Magellan beech tree had no

Comment on being found to grow.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Keeping Up with the Gibbons - LP Zoo

White cheeked gibbons - now there are two.

Murray moved in the habitat

Here at home in the Lincoln Park Zoo.

Burma, she seems okay with that,

As long as Murray knows for sure

That she's the boss inside and out.

If his behavior bothers her,

Burma will let him know no doubt.

Murray is trying extra hard

To prove to Burma that he is

A good guy, playing his best card

Of laying on thick the charm biz.

A good sign they're getting along -

When Burma joins Murray in song.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Fun Seekers - LP Zoo

Asian otters, Gasby and Phraay.

Are having a fun fest for two.

In the water they splash away

Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo.

Wherever the otters be at,

Having fun is the purpose prime.

Dry or wet in their habitat

They're looking for fun all the time.

The two pause for a moment and

Look up and down and all around,

Every nook and cranny scanned

To see what new fun can be found.

If there's potential fun no doubt

Phraay and Gasby will check it out.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Aglow - LP Zoo

This snow monkey is ready to

Greet the dawning of a new day

Here at home in Lincoln Park Zoo.

I watch as the sun makes its way

Higher upward in the blue sky,

Casting all in a golden light.

I watch myself aglow as I

Am fully cloaked in sunshine bright.

I watch the rising sun a while,

Mesmerized by its pleasant glow.

The coming new day's cause to smile.

A sunny day is good to know.

The rising sun says all is fine.

The new day makes this monkey shine.

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

 Power Grab

Hawaii was a monarchy.

The islands were ruled by a queen.

Unwanted changes came to be

When U.S. folks came on the scene.

U.S. sugar barons did do

A bunch of dirty tricks to take

Government over in a coup.

And then the U.S.A. did make

A territory, then a state.

Native Hawaiians lost their right

To sovereignty and faced the fate

Of subjugation by forced might.

Perhaps there comes a future time

The U.S. will pay for this crime.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Air Bubble Blown

Anole lizards like to be

Underwater a lot so that

Food can be found more easily

Than in their on land habitat.

Also, sometimes it's safer in

The water rather than be out.

Anoles need to breathe air when

Underwater for time no doubt.

So the anole's able to

Blow a bubble around its head,

And while underwater does do

Re-breathing for longer time spread.

Underwater - when time to go,

Anoles first let bubbles blow.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Cicada Cycle

It's May of twenty twenty one,

And this cicada bug knows that

My seventeen year "sleep" has run.

It's time to change my habitat.

I burrow out from underground

And start to buzz my call to mate.

Once a suitable has been found

I do my duty and then wait.

I hang out for a month or so,

And then it's time for me to die.

Underground my offspring will go

For seventeen years - who knows why!

Trillions of us will come, then gone -

The cicada phenomenon.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

 Signal Sent

After collecting pollen at

A flower host, this bumblebee

Can tell other bumblebees that,

By using electricity.

I create an electric field

By beating my wings very fast

To signal that the pollen yield

Of this flower to me has passed.

This helps other bumblebees so

They don't waste their time stopping here,

And onto other flowers go.

My electric warn makes this clear.

A bumblebee can by and large

Report back through electric charge.