naked apes

by Judith Zander
          translated from German by Bradley Schmidt

at least the animals loved
our hedging talk grated
geckoes good for coughs and
commode–size ammonites
were the first to slip underneath
fish with mixed containing colored bones
morays maneuvered in our
sentences and squealed on the cute
island squirrels that reveal themselves to be
rats it is best if we do not mention
the gomerian maybugs while eating
a bestial laughter escaped
from us between the bites
we lured helpless hummingbirds
with sticky lips and chased even more fantastic
monsters our words shot the largest lion
what a lark puking
instead of putzing around
the hunter’s child reveals
i’ll cook myself a fox