/I only swim in lakes.../ (Poem by Clara B. Jones)

/I only swim in lakes—/

David Beck lives in San Francisco reading about dodos

But he can't adopt one since his cat would be jealous

And customs wouldn't give him a permit.

Aren't dodos extinct?

A survivor lives at the London Zoo

But space is needed for renovations

And the dodo isn't a popular exhibit because visitors feel guilty

...especially tourists from Portugal.

My son is married to a Brazilian who only speaks Spanish so he moved to Cancun to work for GQ® where my son ran into him on the beach.

The beach is too hot

So I only swim in lakes and never need sunscreen

But Frans DeWaal says dodos have empathy

Because they are social and never fight

...and because they can't fly.

The dodo in London sings like a sparrow

Though the species aren't related

But David Beck placed them side by side in his sculpture, “Zoophobia.”