The Fear of Monkeys - The Best E-Zine on the Web for Politically Conscious WritingThe Senegal Galago - Issue Eleven
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The Senegal Galago, photo from Christian ArtusoThe Senegal Galago, or the lesser bush baby, is a small (130mm and 95-300 grams) nocturnal primate. They are agile leapers, and live in dry woodland regions and savannah regions of Africa south of the Sahara. They have woolly thick fur that ranges from silvery grey to dark brown. They have large eyes, strong hind limbs, and long tails, which help them balance. Their ears are made up of four segments that can bend back individually, to aid their hearing when hunting insects at night. Their omnivorous diet is a mixture of other small animals, including birds and insects, fruit, seeds, flowers, eggs, nuts, and tree gums. They are polygynous, and the females raise their young in nests made from leaves. They have 1-2 babies per litter, with gestation period being 110–120 days. Bush babies are born with half-closed eyes, unable to move about independently. After a few days, the mother carries the infant in her mouth, and leaves it on convenient branches while feeding. At the end of the night, group members use a special rallying call and gather to sleep in a nest made of leaves, in a group of branches, or in a hole in a tree. Their potential predators include mongooses, genets, jackals, domestic cats and dogs, raptors (especially owls), and snakes. In addition, several primates, including humans, Grey-cheeked mangabeys, blue monkeys, and chimpanzees, who have constructed spears, sometimes prey on bushbabies.

   



Man, you should have been there

By

Ben Macnair


Guess who just got back today?
Those wild eyed boys who had been away.


So we strike up the harmony guitars,
and the crowd sing along.

Hadn't changed, hadn't much to say,
But Man I still think those cats are great


Just for one night we can forget,
forget about everything.
Tonight, we are Kings.
There are girls watching.
Men in too much denim are
buying us drinks,
and the beer will flow along with the solos.

There she stood in the street….
Smiling from her head to her feet……..


Years have passed since those nights,
and neither of us are in bands,
but we talk about what we did
fifteen years ago, playing songs older than we were.

He stopped soon after, but I carried on.
he wanted the fame, I wanted the experience,
so we talk about gigs, and how we used to say
Man, you should have been there.

Those nights were unrepeatable, until the next time,
when we load up the Drummer's van
with our kit, and a PA,
that we inherited from another band
who saw something of themselves in us.
We took the songs from the radio,
added our own flavours,
different solos,
different harmonies,
but still the crowd sang along to the versions they knew,
and complained when we changed the order,
or even dared to play an instrumental,
or something that we had written ourselves.
The Landlords seemed pleased.
He says trade is doubled on his normal weeks,
but knows that any profits he has made, we will take.
The time of four musicians doesn't come cheap.

So, we get £20 an hour for doing something we love,
knowing that tomorrow we will get £8 an hour
doing something we hate,
but when people ask about the gig,
We will say, Man, you should have been there.


Ben Macnair was born in 1976 in Nottingham, and now resides in Staffordshire. He has been writing creatively on and off for the last four or five years. His poetry has appeared in Purple Patch, Raw Edge, and various other small print publications, and was featured in the National Poetry Anthology for 2005, 2006, and 2008, 2009 and the forthcoming 2010. His short stories have appeared in Twisted Tongue, and in two Forward Press Anthologies, whilst journalism and reviews have appeared in Blues, Britain Magazine, Verbal Magazine, and various local newspapers and The Independent. Look for his poetry chapbook, This is how it feels before the Rain on the Amazon Kindle E-store.
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