THE CARNIVOROUS APES
We're carnivorous apes, that's what we are.
Language doesn't come so easily.
The usefulness of sticks surprises us;
Tools are an improvised memory.
We hoot and leap and tear up grass; we strike
At others when otherness dares to
Cross our path. We deal in death most red and
Mealy. We stand erect, want to cock
Our pinkies, to speak of culture, and art,
And high brow singing; we want our grunts
To be poetry, O poetry. Still
We screech, and we break each other's teeth.
We're carnivorous apes; it's all we've known:
How it comes undone, this flesh and bone.
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