Saturday, February 15, 2014

WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES, NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN


by Jonel Abellanosa

“Marius the reticulated giraffe died at the Copenhagen Zoo on Sunday . . . The cause of death was a shotgun blast, and after a public autopsy, the animal, who was 11 feet 6 inches, was fed to the zoo’s lions and other big cats.”  -- The New York Times, February 9, 2014

                          Nazi
                          Eugenicists
would
also
never
pause
        to take
      into
account
why a healthy   
peaceful           lovable                     
giraffe              named
Marius             shouldn’t             
be euthanized           then
dismembered   so children
visiting            the zoo
may watch      and see
how                 civilized
hungry             lions
could                   also be
        

Jonel Abellanosa resides in Cebu City, the Philippines.  His poetry is forthcoming in Anglican Theological Review, Mobius Journal of Social Change, Inwood Indiana Press, and has appeared in Windhover, PEN Peace Mindanao anthology, Star*Line, Golden Lantern, Poetry Quarterly, New Verse News, Qarrtsiluni, Anak Sastra: Stories for Southeast Asia, Fox Chase Review, Burning Word, Barefoot Review, Red River Review, Philippines Free Press, Philippine Graphic.  He is working on his first poetry collection, Multiverse.