starving shoulder monkeys
rage against the looming walls
creeping ever closer inward
creating ever smaller doors
through which i struggle now to hear
the other kids playing outside
as the monkeys boney fingers
poke and thrust and jab and pry
twenty years of monkey training
I know less than I knew back then
as the first and frantic monkey
invited his first monkey friend
and for awhile these young impish things
served me well as party tricks
but now the monkeys are the landlords
while i’m outside playing with sticks