My son is two and can’t 
draw a square.
He knows a lion from a 
frog or a bear.

He won’t count to ten.
He’ll buzz like a bee,
bop like a bunny,
call a tiger to tea!

I am not neglectful,
hear me explain:
the system for tots 
has beasts on the brain. 

Kids are devouring
Little Bo Peep,
Hey Diddle Diddle, and
Baa Baa Black Sheep.

From Poppy the Panda to
Winnie the Pooh,
there’s a quack-quack here and a
cock-a-doodle-doo.

But where are the lions
and tigers and bears?
We’ve none in the bedroom,
or outside downstairs.

Where have they all gone?
The Steller’s Sea Cow
has died with the mammoths
and old laughing owl. 

Ninety-percent of large
animals are tame.
Some are now food,
most are humans (in name).

Piglets would suckle
their mum for ten weeks,
Now they’re forcibly weaned
as something to eat.

        Old MacDonald
        is a fuck!
        Those penned up pigs
        just mope in muck.

I won’t dress my kids
in elephant prints,
play Peppa Pig,
buy polar bear mints.

The animal kingdom is 
definitely dead.
I’ll sing of machines
to my children instead. 

---

Sara Patricia Kelly is a creative storyteller and poet, currently writing her first novel. Based in Singapore, she authors Flossie Bossy, a ‘sticky poppy poetry’ site for kids, and performs spoken word poetry at local events. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from LASALLE College of the Arts.