Get
To Know
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 The
Andean Night Monkey Night monkeys are found in the Andes range throughout
South America. Night monkeys inhabit evergreen tropical rainforests and
deciduous scrub forests, as well as habitat along rivers. They prefer
dense middle-level canopies and understories with tangled vines that provide
cover for sleeping sites. They also like hollows in old trees (Note the
photo). Night monkeys eat mainly fruits, but also consume leaves, flowers,
insects, tree frogs, spiders, bats, birds, and eggs. They forage for food
at all levels of the forest, from the canopy down to the forest floor.
Night monkeys are hunted for their meat and fur by native people and poachers
and are sold as pets and used for medical research. The IUCN lists the
Andean night monkey as Vulnerable, facing a high risk of extinction in
the wild, because of small populations and habitat destruction from deforestation.
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We thought we'd seen it all
but no,
the man who pushed
the hot-dog cart
had one arm,
one leg.
And there was the cop
patrolling the park,
slapping his thigh
with his truncheon
but completely blind.
We were aware
of young girls then
but the ones playing
on the swings
were as sexless
as our own sisters
and their dogs ran wild
without tails,
without heads some of them.
We boys had all our senses,
all of our limbs,
just the things for kicking and punching.
We laughed at the wingless birds,
persecuted the mindless squirrels.
We kicked trash cans, busted windows.
And scribbled on the heads of the hairless.
Life was good
when good to us exclusively.
We were on the rise.
Dumb as bricks,
what did we know.
John Grey is an Australian born poet, and US resident
since the late seventies who works as financial systems analyst. He
has been recently published in Slant, Briar Cliff Review
and Albatross with work upcoming in Poetry East, Cape
Rock and REAL.
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The
Andean Night Monkey
- Issue Eight