[New-Poetry] Leave the Animals Alone

[AlMaginnes at aol.com]

In my experience, often those who are most decried for "cruelty" to  animals, 
such as hunters, are the most protective of the natural envioronment.  I'm 
not a hunter myself, but I live in an area where some hunting is necessary  (we 
have an overabundance of deer).
 
In a message dated 9/5/2006 11:44:36 PM Eastern Daylight Time,  
ajlawrence1 at bigpond.com writes:

Tasteless, and ill-informed. He was a fierce environmentalist, and spent  a 
lot of his fortune
buying land, in Australia and o/s that was being logged or that had  
endangered species
on or around it. He was an unfiltered character who polarised people.  Sure, 
he gave
the crocs a bit of a hard time occasionally, but he was an advocate for  
their survival, not demise.



A broad-headed, round-mouthed, 
long-handled shovel 
lies on the reef 
in less than two meters 
of tropical water -
so clear, and on this morning 
so still, you'd swear 
you could see and hear the rust at work 
on a magnified, metal face.
As with cabin bells, anchors, 
coins and other components 
from a ship the reef had scuttled,
the shovel will soon be found: 
a free diver with coral
and fish on her mind,
or someone in search of material 
for a televison special
on the deadly side to living
creatures in this sea.
Whoever comes, they will 
descend and take the shovel
in their hands, not thinking
of how a splinter can do more
than cause infection, being this far
from the wood's origins
and so far from the shore.








On 06/09/2006, at 11:41 AM, Christopher Kelly wrote:


Tasteless.
 
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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Anthony Lawrence
_ajlawrence1 at bigpond.com_ (mailto:ajlawrence1 at bigpond.com) 









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