Out of the Closet/September 2003

It is time I spoke the truth.
It is time all the world knew.
It is time the doors were opened,
The window shutters flung wide.

I am a lemur.
No reason to hide the fact any longer.
The family will be scandalized.
Mother will go back on her medication.
Father will stop speaking to me.
Just as well.
I am headed for the moist, hungry jungles of Madagascar.

No longer forced to hold a day job.
Nocturnal, I will be free to peer through the leaves,
Eyes as large as 90 watt bulbs.
No longer forced to drive an automobile.
(My feet never reached the pedals anyway.
Could barely see over the wheel.)
No, I'll swim through the leafy air silent as a moth.
I'll wear no pants.
Free at last,
I'll grasp branches with wise, sturdy tail,
Eat large beetles sweet as caramels,
Move with premeditated grace,
Spontaneous gentility,
And never have to say a word.

Not a monkey, not a man, not a mistake,
But a lemur and proud.

High in the branches my lemur comrads and I will
Plot the revolution..
Plant the seeds of a juicy, green sidewalk breaking riot
Of root and vine,
A delicate, fragrant orchid outbreak.

But we move so slowly,
And the fruit makes our heads swim,
And there is nothing as pleasant as being scratched on the belly
By a lemur friend.
So probably we will never get around to it.

Therefore,
Your big buildings, trucks, cars, planes, and trains,
Your time saving devices,
your new and improved products with added freshness,
Your asphalt worry mad scramble death machine
The grimaced faced crowd purchasing, pushing, rushing and working,
All the while
Ignoring luscious bugs, tasty fruit, leafy shade,
Mud,
And the joys of tree love,
This world of you big dumb stumblers
I once moved through
Footsore and sad,
Will be safe
From a sleepy green lemur revolt,
For a little while longer.