Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TRAVERSE CITY ZOO, by JAMES HARRISON Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Once I saw a wolf tread a circle in his cage Last Line: Of dope. He grew smaller and sputtered into sleep. Alternate Author Name(s): Harrison, Jim Subject(s): Anger; Animals; Prisons & Prisoners; Zoos; Convicts | ||||||||
Once I saw a wolf tread a circle in his cage amid the stench of monkeys, the noise of musty jungle birds. We threw him bits of doughy bread but he didn't see us, padding on through some imagined forest, his nose on blood. We began to move on in boredom when he jumped against the bars, snarled, then howled in rage that long shrill howl that must remind us of another life. Children screamed and ran, their parents passing them in terror -- the summer day became hard and brittle. I stooped there and watched his anger until the keeper came with a Flash Gordon gun and shot him full of dope. He grew smaller and sputtered into sleep. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SECULAR GAMES by RICHARD HOWARD WHAT DID YOU SEE? by FANNY HOWE JULIA TUTWILER STATE PRISON FOR WOMEN by ANDREW HUDGINS BOTHWELL: PART 4 by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN BOTHWELL: PART 4 by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN WORK IN PROGRESS by CHARLES MARTIN THE SUBCULTURE OF THE WRONGLY ACCUSED by THYLIAS MOSS THE IDEA OF BALANCE IS TO BE FOUND IN HERONS AND LOONS by JAMES HARRISON |
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