 The
Tibetan Macaque - Issue Twenty-Three |
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by Colin Dodds "I think I know why you're here. The screams and the gunshots. The screams, the gunshots, the outrage on the radio and the fiasco in the sky. Well, I know all anyone needs to know about it. And I have it on good authority going back before the Bible that if you don't bother it, it won't bother you. "Behind me? There's nothing behind me. There are bodies, I suppose. Maybe they're dead and maybe they're not dead yet. Maybe they're human and maybe they're not human anymore. But it's fairly late in the game, no matter which game you go by. "And why do you want to look? No, really, before you ruin the moment, ask yourself why? Why did you come to this maybe-crime scene? Look back more than a week, a month, a lifetime, for the real, exact reason. You can't find it, can you? That's okay, neither can I. It's okay. The records have all been burned and sunk to the bottom of the ocean. The who what when where how and why are essentially lost to the likes of us. And our supposed reasons are makeshift-just gibberish, really. "So where does that leave us? Just give me a second here. Look at me. Where does that leave us? It leaves us here, alone, together, tonight. The moon's broken free and reflects off your badge in a way that makes me think something greater than a nine-one-one call brought you here. "There's something familiar about you. Something that makes sense. No, it does more than just make sense. It makes sense of all the jagged-angled and fathomless nooks and crannies of my life up to this moment. And I think you feel it too. "I know you think I'm lying, and there are a host of bloody sins just behind me crying out for an undertaker and a competent prosecutor. That's just common sense. But what is common sense? "No. It's common. And I can tell just from looking at you, you're anything but common. You're noble, perhaps divine. "And thanks to you, now I can see that I am too. I always thought I was special, but never knew just how. A better, special self always hung like a clean white shirt on a wire hanger from a window frame, the sun illuminating its folds and the breeze dancing it gently to and fro. But it was always just out of reach. And I didn't even dare to reach, because my hands were dirty. "But with you, I feel like my hands could be clean, like I could reach for that shirt and wear it. I could be that better person. "You could too. I can feel it. We've found the luck we never even had the guts to ask for. And all the things we ever wanted or wanted to be are within our grasp. So don't look over my shoulder, but into my eyes. Let's leave this damp and shadowy abattoir. Come with me, to a motel room. "Sleep with me." Colin Dodds is the author of Another Broken Wizard, WINDFALL and The Last Bad Job, which Norman Mailer touted as showing “something that very few writers have; a species of inner talent that owes very little to other people.” His writing has appeared in more than two hundred publications, and been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Poet and songwriter David Berman (Silver Jews, Actual Air) said of Dodds’ work: “These are very good poems. For moments I could even feel the old feelings when I read them.” Colin’s book-length poem That Happy Captive was a finalist in the 2015 Trio House Press Louise Bogan Award as well as the 42 Miles Press Poetry Award. And his screenplay, Refreshment, was named a semi-finalist in the 2010 American Zoetrope Contest. Colin lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife Samantha. See more of his work at thecolindodds.com.
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The
Tibetan Macaque is found in mixed subtropical forests at altitudes
from 800 to 2,500 m above sea level from eastern Tibet east to Guangdong
and north to Shaanxi in China. this largest species of macaque is
one of the largest monkeys found in Asia. Males are the larger sex,
commonly attain a weight of 13 to 19.5 kg while females weigh 9
to 13 kg. Their long, dense fur is brown on the back with creamy-buff
to grey coloration on the underparts. Some adults are quite dark
brown on the back while others are basically a sandy yellowish brown
color. They have a prominent, pale-buff beard and long whiskers,
but have a hairless face. The infants have silver and black fur
that changes to its adult color at the age of two. They live in
mixed sex groups and have a complex social system; females remain
for life in their natal group, but males disperse shortly after
their adolescence (at about 8 years old). Alpha males dominate the
group, being those that are typically large, strong and newly mature.
As they age, males tend to gradually lose their social standing
and are frequently subject to challenges for dominance from other
males. Females first breed at around five years of age. The gestation
period is six months with a single offspring being produced at each
pregnancy. Males of the group may also be involved in alloparenting
care. They spend most of their time on the ground, where they forage
for leaves, fruit, grass and, to a lesser extent, flowers, seeds,
roots and insects. When available, bamboo shoots, fruits and leaves
are particularly favoured. Their main threats are all human-related.
They are sensitive to habitat destruction, as they are tied closely
to the forest. As well, they are occasionally poisoned by herbicides
and pesticides while eating and may catch diseases transmitted from
human. Illegal poaching may occur, with humans killing them for
their flesh and fur.