I’ve Been Yearning for a Riot
At the Bronx Zoo
The cobras unlock their jaws into safety pins // Pick
Open the locks of their terrariums & escape.
The penguins throw // Student loans at women with Prada purses.
So upset the thought // Of happiness existing anywhere seems insulting.
The albino rhinoceros pushes // Open the gates of his captivity.
How he dreamt of a road trip & camping in Yosemite.
To walk in the valley & let waterfalls empty their bladders into his mouth.
The ram rams open // The gates of his enclosure too.
The apricot parrot // Sings the same song of struggle.
Anti-capitalism means // The rich can no longer // Control us with their laws.
This whole fucking zoo will burst like a // Molotov cocktail
Once the parrot sets flame to the aviary &
Then a fly flies // Onto the spine of a gazelle // A gazelle
Who’s lighting a blunt while // Resting her hip against the ice cream stand
The alligators are starting to pour margaritas.
Alligators used to be enemies with the gazelle // But now they’re together.
They hijack the stereo & start dancing to Selena’s
“Bidi Bidi Bom Bom.”
The pigs // A most anxious of animals // Stay locked inside.
The pigs are feeling their badges // Hiding in mud & waiting for the uproar
to pass.
Here come the wisps of tranquilizer darts // Humans pushing giraffes whose
Necks are craned in the shape of a // McDonald’s arch &
Now we’re at the juncture where everyone suspends // we mustn’t
fold back to corn meals from the trough.
I’m dashing to freedom // My cheetah crop-top // Turns me into a cheetah.
My legs are pixelated in quick motion // Catch me
If you can!
Christopher Soto
Poet and activist Christopher Soto, who also uses the name Loma, is the son of El Salvadoran immigrants. He grew up in Los Angeles and earned an MFA at New York University. He is the author of Sad Girl Poems (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2016) and the chapbook How to Eat Glass (Still Life Press, 2012). Christopher Soto’s poems, reviews, interviews, and articles can be found at the Nation, the Guardian, Los Angeles Review of Books, Poetry magazine, American Poetry Review, Tin House, and elsewhere. His work has been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, and Thai.
