Jay Rubin Gorilla In a German Zoo                     —Frankfurt am Main Big black Buddha, round bald belly Silver back pressed against green glass Do your fat feet, your callused pads Miss the jagged stones of jungle soil? Do you only beat your breast When the sloth next door dares move? They tell me Don't, but still I toss A peanut through these iron weeds Me a captive, too, my own boned cage A little bird asleep inside me Your slow black hands brush aside a fly Fingernails edged with foreign dirt Digging each night, a dream of Uganda You earth a dark tunnel; and I, a guide Hide beside a boat, a cloud-covered lake Each oar dips the black-bugged water Baskets floating through the Pharaoh's wine Barrels over rapids, a cascading snore ...      Ah, the tea-green glass      Home, you almost utter Slow black hands brush aside a fly

---