On Having Been Astonished
How often in my life--
More times than can be tracked--
Has my gast been flabbered
And my gob been smacked.


Penmanship
Disdaining the privilege of carelessness
That my age has brought me
I keep aware of all the great and little truths
That the good Sisters once taught me,

So that even on grocery lists and the like--
Say, all my notebook jottings--
I am always painstaking about crossing t's
And punctilious with i-dottings.


National Geographic
Achievement of maturity in the male
Of the species can be truly measured:
It occurs when one, sufficiently sexed,
Ceases searching for color photographs
Of the female breast, calmly turns each page,
And begins to read the magazine's text.


On Critics
I learned as an infant
At Philadelphia's Victorian Zoo
That apes and humans
Are members of a kindred species.

As a child I was told
That the great gorilla Bamboo
Once tried to pelt me
With clumps of his own feces.


Natural Selection
Thinking a lot about genetics and Darwin
Has raised for me questions like these:
Did millions of mothering mice avoid mousetraps?
And did they breed babies indifferent to cheese?