< animal man >

   Tuned at birth to different wavelengths
   my weasel republican neighbor and me
   are having a bad time

   Today it was the fiberglass animals
   again

   The rhinoceros was too close
   to his driveway
   he said
   and
   i said
   if he had left his forest natural
   instead of bush-hogging it
   he'd never SEE my rhinoceros

   So we go on
   fearing the adrenaline
   and 
   avoiding each other
   for days

   And each night
   i would move my rhinoceros
   closer

   Until he broke its horn

   Then i lined ALL my animals up
   along his driveway
   some of them
   with signs of support
   for the poor rhinoceros

   But he complained to the association
   and the pink flamingo ordinance
   was re-interpreted
   to outlaw the animals in my yard

   So i had to glue them
   to the tops of my cars

   --- 
                     Ray Heinrich
                    (April, 1995)