Baboon Under the Pillow

At night my old baboon
still smacking lips
and licking idols
thirsty for holy earth water
appears from baboon underworld
singing Episcopal Reichian hymns
in key of C
and once again demands
to know when human future
will discover animal past
when the cages
of civilized political zoo
will truly open
for survival of the hungriest
to end tyranny of ersatz
logic and organization.

She frowns as I offer
eight day old mango
wants to investigate
ancient Iberian cheese
“What good are all your books?
If they don’t teach you taste
what the hell do they teach you?”
We dance around picking lice
rolling eyes and drooling
she smiles like a gibbous moon
and chants in some language
I’ve never heard
deep and soulful
she grabs the yellow curtain
by my bed and pulls herself
up to the ceiling
and disappears
into the paint
Oh creature!
Why do you come to me
from the misty savannah
your hair turning white
your nose wrinkled
your fingernails curled
your toenails too long
your eyes all bloodshot
your voice cracking
your gold rings
badly in need of polish?