After years in the sanitarium,
the grasshopper looks up and sees
his therapist is the ant. The eagle
listens to the chicken’s counsel
on productivity. The hare has strung
the tortoise across a fitness machine.
Monkeys try to open sloths up to
not just hanging from trees, but
swinging. Owl orderlies tell
the mice it’s time for their meds
and take them somewhere private.
A homing pigeon taps impatiently
while a butterfly caroms up the hall.
The fox lectures the lion on sharing,
and offers him sour grapes for lunch.
The grasshopper can’t remember
coming in from the winter, but
knows he can’t survive in here.
He is waiting for the first whiff
of grass – to sit on a blade
in a light breeze, the wind
telling him nothing, and him
gently nodding.
Jocko Benoit is the author of three collections of poetry, the most recent of which is Real Estate Deals of the Apocalypse (Poems About Donald Trump). His poetry has appeared in Gargoyle, New Ohio Review, Rattle Poets Respond, Southern Poetry Review, Spillway and many other journals.
