[New-Poetry] Leave the Animals Alone

[JforJames at aol.com]

Leave the Animals Alone 
Anti-elegy for Steve Irwin, The Crocodile Hunter  
So sorry about that stingray’s direct 
hit to your heart, but I’ve been meaning 
to say something for a long time: 
Leave the fucking animals alone. 
Let them live in the dignity of their  
natural environment. They don’t need 
your nest-probing camera,  
they don’t want to be mounted by a man 
in boots and khaki shorts, trying to make them show  
their teeth. Mug for the camera if you 
must, but don’t make animals accomplices 
to a carnival geek’s unseemly acts. 
The crocodile and anaconda are gods  
of this earth. I don’t see you cavorting with 
prairie dogs. I don’t see you wrestling 
the stoat to the ground or kissing the cheek of a sloth 
as it feeds in the upper reaches of the rainforest’s canopy 
as its home is eaten away by backhoes. 
They all want to left alone. And the ones 
that are dangerous kill because killing 
has kept them alive. We’re supposed 
the smarter species. So long, Steve,natural  selection again takes its course.
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