Across Reptile Pond a herd of zebra graze in open green
captivity, black-striped necks bent to bales of hay
dropped by natives from truck beds.
An ostrich trots into the herd
and a few colts break toward a tree by the green canal
where a giraffe neck thin as straw
needles the leaves of lower branches.
On Ape Island a gibbon moves like a gray blur
through the limbs of a leafless tree.
Below him two chimps leaning on their knuckles
watch our cars roll by in procession
something like a line of elephants in a circus.
In the back seat our Safari guide
speaks through the taped drumbeats of a darker continent,
warns against leaving cars or throwing food.
But a silverback gorilla in the mouth of a cave
sees my lens spark against the sunlight.
His hairy arm stretching slowly toward the car
curls back to his chest.
My shutter catches his eye,
the long talking arm circling in and out, calling me
across water, the only thing he believes is really between
us.
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