Dreams of the Animals
Margaret Atwood

Mostly the animals dream
of other animals each
according to its kind

(though certain mice and small

rodents
have nightmares of a huge pink

shape with five claws

descending)

: moles dream of darkness and delicate
mole smells

frogs dream of green and golden
frogs
sparkling like wet suns
among the lilies

red and black
striped fish, their eyes open
have red and black striped
dreams defense, attack, meaningful
patterns

birds dream of territories
enclosed by singing.

Sometimes the animals dream of evil
in the form of soap and metal
but mostly the animals dream
of other animals.

There are exceptions:

the silver fox in the roadside zoo
dreams of digging out
and of baby foxes, their necks bitten

the caged armadillo
near the train
station, which runs
all day in figure eights
its piglet feet pattering,
no longer dreams
but is insane when waking;

the iguana
in the petshop window on St.

Catherine Street
crested, royal-eyed, ruling
its kingdom of water-dish and

sawdust

dreams of sawdust

Sometimes we forget how these fellow travelers each have a lesson for us if we will only pay attention. Mice and moles, frogs and fish, birds and foxes, armadillos and iguanas, lions and tigers and bears, oh my! When we cage them, even for the good reasons we tell ourselves so that zoos can exist, they become less of who they are--just as we would, even if the cage were made of gold. Zebras and scanner stickers should have no connection--but in a world where humans put a price on everything, they do.