Barack Obama Waxes Poetic About Apes

May 28, 2008

Today the San Francisco Chronicle's fabulous Leah Garchik reported on a poem Barack Obama wrote for an Occidental College student literary journal in 1981. The subject? Apes!

Here's an excerpt from Obama's poem, entitled "Underground":

Under water grottos, caverns
Filled with apes
That eat figs.
Stepping on the figs
That the apes
Eat, they crunch.
The apes howl, bare
Their fangs, dance.
Tumble in the
Rushing water,
Musty, wet pelts
Glistening in the blue.

On a more serious ape note, nearly one-third of all primate species, over 100, are under threat of extinction now. Better environmental practices and worldwide attention to such issues will go a long way in helping to resolve such problems. Whichever candidate becomes the next U.S. president, I hope the individual will do what she or he can to help turn things around.

Comments

[Random Comment Generator]

Ahhhh! This truly goes to show he's a candidate like no other. Imagine an animal lover -- or at least someone sensitive to the lives and struggles of other animals -- in the White House. Amazing. Thank you for sharing.

[Jen Viegas]

"someone sensitive to the lives and struggles of other animals"
Well put.