HAIKU DIALOGUE – World of Animals – (Put Me in the Zoo) – commentary

World of Animals with Guest Editor Nancy Brady

As a child, all I wanted to do was learn to read, and I couldn’t wait for first grade because that was when reading was taught. Unfortunately, my younger sister didn’t appreciate the fact that I’d rather read my book when she’d rather play outside so she’d hide it. We’d play, but I finally had a work-around for missing books. I’d randomly choose a volume from our family’s Funk & Wagnall’s encyclopedia. At the time I just thought I was the weird kid. In retrospect, I suspect I wasn’t the only one who spent time with random volumes of encyclopedias. Regardless, I discovered all sorts of things including my favorites:  animals.

Whether it was learning about wombats (still my favorite marsupial) or another kind of animal, I found (and find) the natural world fascinating.  Even now, I find myself watching Nature on PBS as they present programs featuring all sorts of animals, from the smallest to the largest and often those that are being rehabilitated or are in danger of becoming extinct. This brings me to the subject of the next couple of prompts – I am looking for haiku about animals of all kinds, from invertebrates to vertebrates. Each prompt will have a particular focus. Please join me in exploring the zoological world.

For inspiration, listen to They Might Be Giants’ “Mammal”.

Below is Nancy’s commentary for (Put Me in the Zoo):

arctic animals without snow
behind walled barriers
caged bear sighs

Lisa Lindsay
Canada

With her submission, she also included the following note: “When I was a child I felt sad and often guilty at the zoo with the cages. I’m making this note as the tone is a little different than you may have intended. It was my experience as a child that you requested. I still question keeping animals this way.”

zoo visit
all the lion wants
is freedom

Rehn Kovacic
Mesa, AZ

 

extinction
or captivity
no question

Stephen J. DeGuire
Los Angeles, CA

I understand and appreciate Lisa’s concern, but I also know that zoos are changing. As I mentioned in my introduction to “Put Me in the Zoo,” the first zoo I ever visited was the Columbus Zoo (in Ohio). That was in 1959, and nearly every animal was in a cage or enclosure (the monkeys on the island may have been the exception) to protect the people from the animals and the animals from the people. That remained that way for many years, with slight modifications to cages and enclosures. When Jack Hanna took over as director of the Columbus Zoo, he became responsible for making changes that increased the size of the enclosures (as well as becoming a global representative for animals in his care). These areas were more like the natural habitats where the animals lived in the wild. The animals had room to roam, and often combined species together, yet they were protected from the predators that would be in the wild. The Columbus Zoo is not the only zoo to make these kinds of changes, but these actions have reduced many cages.

In my reading of Rehn’s haiku, I found that this haiku addresses this as well (‘all the lion wants / is freedom’), but lions are having a rough time surviving in the wild. Male lions kill other males’ cubs, even the older immature ones (two to three years old), which are still dependent on their mothers. This, too, has reduced the population of lions, making them vulnerable. Stephen’s haiku, however, addresses this situation directly. ‘Extinction / or captivity?’ Stephen is right; there is ‘no question’ that it is up to humans to become good stewards of the earth. Fortunately, zoos are doing a phenomenal job of protecting those species that are on the endangered or threatened list and may face extinction. Many zoos have breeding programs in place. Unfortunately, there are too many animals (amphibians, mammals, birds, fish, etc.) that face extinction because of loss of habitat, and (referencing Lisa’s haiku) the polar bear is just one of them because of melting sea ice due to climate change.

lions tigers bears
the diversity
among us

Stephen A. Peters
Bellingham, WA

Stephen Peters’ haiku, as I read it, is all about the vast diversity of animals (and life on earth). Taking a line from The Wizard of Oz, he mentions ‘lions,’ ‘tigers,’ and ‘bears,’ but he goes much further with it. He talks about ‘diversity,’ and diversity doesn’t end with the difference between mammals, monotremes, and marsupials. It includes the fish in the sea, the birds of the air, insects and spiders, and human beings. There is so much diversity in the world, and it should be celebrated for all the differences. We are not all alike, yet we have things in common, the biggest (and maybe the most important) being the world in which we live (and keeping it in a condition so that we all will continue to live).

safari the white rhino isn’t

(In my Africa days in the late 1970s I discovered that the white rhino is actually brown. As we originated in Africa…. Now, it’s extinct save for one individual, I think.)

Keith Evetts
Thames Ditton, UK

Keith is right; the ‘white rhino’ is not white, but brown, as my husband and I also discovered when we visited Kenya in 2012. It is lighter skinned than the black rhino. Just like many other mammals around the world, they are threatened with extinction. So much so that scientists are using IVF to impregnate rhinos with the DNA of northern white rhinos (there are two female white rhinos left in the world and the last male white rhino has died, but DNA was harvested) in other rhinos (southern white rhinos) to keep the species from becoming extinct. If they are successful, the white rhino may be brought back from the brink of extinction. Other rhino species (there are five different rhinos) are also in danger of extinction so scientists in different zoos have breeding programs. With rhinos being killed (poached) for their horns, it is even more important for the breeding programs to be successful or as Keith said, there may only be one individual left.

Binky behind bars
captivates a shutterbug—
shoe leather luncheon

David Hoffmann
Ashland, Oregon

David’s haiku gave me pause. I read it and reread it several times, and still didn’t get it. What is a ‘shoe leather luncheon?’ I guessed that there was either an animal in the zoo by the name of ‘Binky’ or maybe even a Binky pacifier thrown into the cage, but I figured there was a story behind this haiku. Doing a little research on the web, I discovered that an orphaned polar bear named Binky was rescued and moved to the Alaska Zoo. As an adult, he was large and aggressive. Despite the warnings, an Australian tourist climbed over two safety rails to get a close-up photograph of him. At that moment Binky stuck his head through the bars, grabbed her, broke her leg, and left bite marks. Photos of him with one of the tourist’s shoes in his mouth ended up in the Alaska Star newspaper. In a few words, David’s haiku tells a story.

weighed down
by human burdens
sea creatures

Roberta Beach Jacobson
Indianola, IA, USA

Roberta’s haiku addresses the burdens of ‘sea creatures,’ and this haiku resonated with me. Humans have treated the oceans, rivers, and streams with disdain, and in so doing, have affected all life, not only sea creatures, but humans as well. There is the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” which is full of plastics, many of them microplastics. Microplastics are eaten by fish, which are eaten by human beings. Coral beds are affected by climate change, pollution, and overfishing. Plastic rings from six-packs are another hazard. These are just a few of the burdens humans have caused the animals which live in the seas. Water is one of the world’s most precious resources, and one that needs protecting, as are the creatures which live in it, which is how I read Roberta’s haiku.

unicorn
all the animals
I’ll never meet

Anne Fox
Broomes Island, MD USA

 

london zoo—
my son asks to see
the gruffalo

Adele Evershed
Wilton, Connecticut

Both Anne’s haiku and Adele’s haiku mention fictional animals. Anne’s haiku presents a wistful approach in that she knows that she won’t get the chance to meet ‘all the animals’ she’d like over her lifetime. What they all are only she knows, but it is understandable. I feel the same way. Adele’s haiku references a creature from a children’s book. It’s one I read to my grandchildren when they were young. The ‘gruffalo’ is a fictional monster, but ends up being decent. I can imagine a young child wanting to see the gruffalo in the London zoo especially since it was written by an English author. To me, both haiku are refreshing for their innocence and the hope to see the animals based on imagination.

zoo
beasts through the bars
watching people

Dejan Ivanovic
Lazarevac, Serbia

 

through bars
a wise-eyed gorilla
stares at me

Vera Kochanowsky
Falls Church, VA

 

bright eyes
baby gorilla through glass
almost touching hands

Kathleen Cain
Arvada, CO USA

Dejan’s, Vera’s, and Kathleen’s haiku all touch on mammals interacting with humans. Dejan’s haiku isn’t specific as to which ‘beasts’ are ‘watching people,’ but just that they are. Vera’s haiku is more specific; it is a ‘gorilla,’ a ‘wise-eyed gorilla’ at that. Animals are watching us, and we are watching animals. Kathleen’s haiku about the ‘baby gorilla’ goes even farther. It wants to have actual contact with the person looking at it (and by extension, the human wants that contact, too). Are gorillas sentient? Are any mammals sentient? There is so much we don’t know about the natural world, but scientists have discovered that humans are not the only ones who use tools and language. It is to our benefit that we learn to protect these animals, and harkening back to the first commentary, keep them from going extinct.

Join us next week for our next prompt…

Bios:

Guest Editor Nancy Brady is a pharmacist by profession, a haiku and senryu poet by nature. She often found inspiration on her treks back and forth to work as a pharmacist; her first book of haiku, Ohayo Haiku, was a foray into publishing haiku. Three Breaths, her second book, is a mix of haiku, senryu, alternative forms, and other poems. Her work has appeared in journals all over the globe (both print and electronic) and has been rejected by many more. Nancy also writes other genres and has published a children’s book, The Adventures of Aloysius, in November 2023. It is catalogued in the Library of Congress. She also reads lots of novels. Her favorite is, and remains, Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, but she is also a big Harry Potter fan. Now retired from the pharmacy profession, she works part-time for the local Board of Elections and volunteers at Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Center. She, her husband Rob, and their cat, Regulus Arcturus Black, live in Huron, Ohio, a block from Lake Erie, where the bird population is constantly changing.

Assistant Editor Lafcadio, a former teacher, now works from home writing, editing and proofreading study guides for nursing textbooks. She lives in Tennessee. She has written poetry for a long time but a couple of years ago fell in love with Japanese micropoetry and hasn’t looked back. Lafcadio has been published in a number of journals and anthologies. She writes under the nom de plume of Lafcadio because nom de plume is so fun to say. You can read her poems on Twitter (X) @lafcadiopoetry or BlueSky @lafcadiobsky.

Assistant Editor Vandana Parashar is an associate editor of haikuKATHA and one of the editors of Poetry Pea and #FemkuMag. Her debut e-chapbook, I Am, was published by Title IX Press (now Moth Orchid Press) in 2019 and her second chapbook Alone, I Am Not, was published by Velvet Dusk Publishing in April 2022.

Lori Zajkowski is the Post Manager for Haiku Dialogue. She lives in New York City and enjoys reading and writing haiku.

Managing Editor Katherine Munro lives in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, and publishes under the name kjmunro. She served as Membership Secretary for Haiku Canada for ten years, and her debut poetry collection is contractions (Red Moon Press, 2019). Find her at: kjmunro1560.wordpress.com.

Portrait by Laurel Parry

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Banner Photo & Prompt Photo credits:  Rob Smith

Haiku Dialogue offers a triweekly prompt for practicing your haiku. Posts appear each Wednesday with a prompt or a selection of poems from a previous week. Read past Haiku Dialogue posts here.