the zoo-keeper's rules

what i know is the inside of an incubator
a vast white limbo of
the overachiever's science project.

the poke and the prod and incessant
wide eyes jabs like arrows
in wounded flesh
at every yawning second

and the
zoo-keeper's paranoia
that any moment i will release beyond the metal
not trusting return-

above all, the eyes are my wrecking ball.

lion roar
unheard and unheeded
because it was not solicited to roar;
roar for the crowds
roar for the villans
don't roar for zoo-keeper;

those are not the rules.