Gorilla at Large

by Ron Koertge

My mother isn't feeling well, so I tell her
I'll come over and we'll just watch TV.
What's on is Gorilla at Large, starring Ann
Bancroft and Raymond Burr. Since the operation
she's not interested in much, but this movie
has her sitting up in bed.

There's a cute guy with biceps, some blackmail,
and a murder. Ann flounces around in her skimpy
circus costume, Raymond gets jealous, the gorilla
leers and shakes the bars of his cage.

Mom is particularly tender-hearted these days.
She's been calling everyone whose feelings
she might have hurt. She's asked bitter
enemies to come to the hospital.

So she cries when the gorilla scrambles
to the top of the roller coaster and is shot.
But she hasn't got one kind word for
Ann Bancroft as she's led away to jail.

She gropes for the spot on her night table
where the cigarettes used to be, then gets
out of bed and shambles toward the bathroom.

"There was a woman like that set her cap
for your father once. I showed her a thing
or two."