At the San Francisco Zoo

[When we left Los Angeles on Tuesday morning, I had four pieces of See's Candies "California brittle" safely stowed in my checked suitcase. They weren't there when I unpacked in Mountain View.]

Feeling hungry at the San Francisco Zoo
after raptly cooing and doting over the two
five-month old reticulated giraffes^*
(just seven feet tall, they both still were calfs),
who playfully, like a boldly tossed stich,
would run to elude the pesky old ostrich,

after confirming that flamingos—
like single-amputated gringos—
can poise on one leg (and can do it
without needing a peg stand to do it),
after seeing in their pink-feathered quivering
tutued ballerinas en pointe demi-quavering,

while looking into the eye of an ibis,
I discovered something useful, aye—this:
imagined chocolate can taste and smell almost
as good as the actual thing...well, almost.
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* The zoo's web page on the giraffes