Emily Dickinson At The San Antonio Zoo, 1955

I let Emily Dickinson loose at the zoo.
Being a man, I didn’t know any better.

Because she couldn’t wait for the lions to die,
she killed them with her own bare hands.

Giraffes she attired in frumpy dresses.
Virgins she warned about the ways of the male.

She kept calling a gorilla, Reverend.
She cuddled with horses bound for heaven.

She liberated imprisoned trains
by derailing them.

It was no ordinary zoo
which she peopled with her favorite animals.