The song of the katydid does not suffice
To enlist it among the animals I love
I do not love hyenas warthogs or lampreys
Though I respect their existence

Magnificent tigers and tame-refusing zebras are okay
But I love the whales with their songs
The songs of red-wing’d blackbirds
A conversation with my cat Citrus

I do not love a cicada
Though the sculptural token of its emergence delights
I do not love shit bile or trailing or running phlegm
Inherent though they are in life

I do not love capable but unreasoning humans
And I myself lapse grievously from time to time
But I love the smell of baby’s scalp
Enhanced permissibly with shampoo