Napo 15
Admiring Jessica Barksdale’s “Zoo Story” This is such a wild poem! The metaphor here is a little messy, but I think that’s ok. At first I thought the poet was comparing her marriage to bears, then her life to walking through the zoo at all of the different animals, and then at the end, the speaker actually is one of the zoo animals herself, the aging gorilla. So I guess the metaphor shifts as the speaker walks through the zoo? Anyway, it’s fun and interesting. The poem ends with a kind of “feel good” message—basically, life is beautiful, even for the gorilla in a cage. Enjoy the moment, especially when “The sun is shining” and you can “feel the wind blowing through your fur.” 😊 So, we live many “lives” throughout our lifetime, and walking through life is like walking through a zoo. Ok, I get it. And it’s overall pleasant, though not without its dangers. Some cool moments in the poem: The opening stanza is really great—there’s a sharp turn where vehicle