Guest Poet Joe Balaz ‘Slow Downfall’

FCS focuses on promoting humour,
offbeat poetry and exploring things different

Joe Balaz writes in Hawaiian Islands pidgin. He lives in Cleveland, Ohio


SLOW DOWNFALL


Dere’s da lynx and da caracal
by da cheetah and da cougar

standing next to da margay
and da leopard

along wit da serval and da jaguar

while da lion and da tiger
play tag wit da ocelot—


You get da idea
I like big cats

da moa wild da bettah.


Da key word heah dough
 is “wild”

cause I no like look at da buggahs
in wun cage.


Turn da prisoners loose
if you ask me.


Dose setups in city zoos
are just scientific circuses

witout da whips
and flaming hoops.


Dats why I no mind
da nature programs

filming da huge felines
in dere own habitats.


Even dough dey stay endangered
dey are bettah off

being wheah dey supposed to be.


If da buggahs go extinct
den dats da way it is.


It’s not like dis planet
nevah see radical changes before.

Go ask da saber-toothed tiger
about dat.


As da world is squeezed

in da face of development
and technology

some wonderful  tings
are gonna be lost.


While all of dis happens

I rather be wun neutral observer
to da slow downfall

rather den wun animal keeper
holding nature against its will

so dat its creatures
can exist as side shows

in pay to see jail cells.

(Joe Balaz)