“Eating the Zoo,” by Patrick Hicks
A poem that breaks into the zoo, snaps a peacock’s neck, and walks home, feathers swishing behind it.
Some students and I went to hear Dr. Hicks read at Zandbroz Variety Store in Sioux Falls, St. Patrick’s Day, 2009. There was hot cider to drink and a deft fiddler playing, too. Besides being a crowd favorite for itself, “Eating the Zoo” flipped something inside my writers: There’s nothing in history that can’t become a poem! My imagination can jolt anything to life. And Holy Haunch of Tiger! What other weird, terrible, wonderful episodes have I never heard of? Never thought about? Besides enjoying this one for itself, I love it because it started something that semester.
“Eating the Zoo” is in Patrick Hicks’ book, Finding the Gossamer
Belly up, it's A Poetry Feed. 
Useful hilarity!
No doubt, Laurie!
One thing I really like about this poem is the gentle allusion at the end to Noah’s preservation in the ark. Amazing what a simple phrase–“two by two”–does to provide a kind of life-giving ballast to the historical facts and whimsical menu items before it.
Glad you liked it, too.