White privilege mixed with whiter guilt.

- 23 - Quality Juggler

[oldphonyspencer]

I gave my fingers a reprieve

From the relentless assault

Of my mouth

Long enough to see

The skin regrow

And feel the things I held

The way I felt them

Before the ravenous beasts

Could no longer

Be denied their desires

[oldphonyspencer]

The earth around me

Became soft

And malleable

With rain water

So I covered myself with it

Trusting summer suns

To make my mud

Dry and hard

And with any luck

I will forget how to move

And never see it cracked

[oldphonyspencer]

Hate

Selfish, pathetic, boring hate

That’s all this mind is good for

Creating hate from nothing

And only for one

[oldphonyspencer]

The voices from the other room

Will continue to question your silence

But it must be known

And must be believed

Nothing you can say

Will dissuade then

[oldphonyspencer]

And so it turns out

This long road was a circle

And your time on the wheel

Could never make you grow

[oldphonyspencer]

College is a journey of going deeper and deeper into the depths of YouTube to find people with increasingly strong accents to explain your lectures

[oldphonyspencer]

Is there chance of escape,

Once the box has been formed

And the latch set

And the notion

Of the box’s impenetrance

Has soundly been assured?

Is there ever a hope

For the self made captive?

[oldphonyspencer]

Ladies in waiting

Herded, sheltered from the strom

Find an entire lifetime

Each other’s new reflection

[oldphonyspencer]

hey where's the content

Do you mean the poems? I was doing that for a year as a challenge for myself.

I’m in the last semester of a medical degree so I’m done with them for now, but I’m sure I’ll write some in the future

[oldphonyspencer]

The most prescious moments

Fall backwards forever

Tearing away

Bits of me as they go

And I am to think it growth

[oldphonyspencer]

The fog came

And stayed long enough

To forget it came at all

But I loved the way

It pulled the light into streaks

Across my eyes

[oldphonyspencer]

How cruel you are

To fill the space inside

Me, only

To leave it hollow

Flat and sagging

Dropping to the ground

A balloon

Worlds away

From the joy it was intended for

[bigcatawareness]

i don't really understand why you would be pro-zoo. like i understand nature reserves and sanctuaries where people can observe from afar, but it doesn't seem right to me when they're locked up in generally small confined areas for people to watch them do nothing all day. idk maybe i'm getting this wrong, and i still really respect you, i just don't understand this. like i interned at a zoo and felt uncomfortable with how small their living areas were and how they had no stimulation

Zoos don’t look like this anymore.

They look like this:

Good zoos do not keep their animals in “tiny spaces” with no enrichment.  I’m not pro-roadside zoo.  I’m pro-accredited zoo.  Zoos are incredibly important for conservation and education.

Are Zoos Necessary?

The Importance of Zoos: Resource Post

Why Zoos and Aquariums Matter: Assessing the Impact of a Visit to a Zoo or Aquarium

Why I Want to be a Keeper

Why I Believe in Zoos

[useless-zoofacts]

There should be way more pictures of modern zoos so i just add some more

[merp-a-derp69-deactivated201808]

Seriously zoos do so much important conservation work as well I hate when people shit all over zoos as if the animals are locked up and not looked after

[nyxetoile]

The SF Zoo has two sea lions. Now, if you know SF, you know that sea lions are a Thing. They’re all over Pier 39 and various other beaches in N California. In fact, the zoo is near the ocean, so there are sea lions not 200 yards from the zoo entrance. So having sea lions in the zoo seems sort of superfluous.

Except the sea lions are blind. One was found as an adult after suffering a gun shot wound to the face that destroyed his eyes. The other was found as an adolescent, weak and starving because it had been blinded and unable to hunt. So they were rescued and introduced and the zoo built them a nice pool where they can swim and sunbathe and people toss them fish. It’s not the biggest exhibit, or the fanciest. But it’s a home for them, where they’re safe and well fed. Sea lions aren’t the most romantic of animals, but they’re a part of SF culture and a lot of us have a soft spot for the loud, bulbous things. And because of zoos, these two get to live long, happy lives.

Whenever anyone complains about zoos, I think about Silent Knight and Henry. 

[zoogeek327]

I think it’s St. Louis zoo that is saving big cats in Africa. Scientists couldn’t figure out what was killing off the local lion population. They were dying off from Canine Distemper. The local unvaccinated dogs of the towns would spread the disease to other animals or have it themselves. When the lions ate the infected animals they would catch it as well. You know what that Zoo is doing to stop this disease? They are going over to those towns and vaccinating the dogs for free. The community loves it and people from other villages comes for miles to get their dogs vaccinated as well.

They also do work with camel populations because the local human population use the camels for food sources the zoos help monitor the camels health.

Another zoo, I want to say it’s the Oregon zoo but don’t quote me on that, is helping female inmates. The zoo works with the female prisons by encouraging the inmates to assist in the breeding and raising of endangered species of butterflies. They plant the specific plants that the butterflies and catapillars need, raise them, and release them. These inmates get noted in any scientific journals that get published. They are giving these inmates a sense of accomplishment and validation.

Zoos not only save species but bring together and assist communities in an effort to save the environment. Zoos, good zoos, are essential to the future and I will fight anyone who tries to say otherwise.

PS you don’t see PETA doing any of this.

[oldphonyspencer]

Of all the fortunes 

bestowed to me

I treasure nothing more 

than my severe capacity to love

[oldphonyspencer]

You aren’t special

And nothing matters

Except for all the times you are

And all the things that do

[oldphonyspencer]

A poem for everyday

Thank You.

I started this project to have a creative outlet while in school and I honestly didn’t expect anyone, especially strangers, to like my poems. 

It was definitely much harder than I expected, but also much more rewarding. I can’t thank you guys enough for the likes and the kind comments, they have meant the world to me. 

Hopefully one day I’ll right more poetry, but for now its time to focus on school. But they’ll always be on Tumblr, unless they ban that too. 

Again, thank you.

- Oldphonyspencer 

[oldphonyspencer]

A poem for everyday # 365

The Last Time is the Hardest

The sun rose unexpectedly

though I’d been waiting all night.

It’s still surprising 

when the days you think of

come the same as all the others.

Surely it must be different.

How could the sky not reflect

the flickering from chest?

The ground cannot be normal ground

my steps are earthquakes,

my shoes are twenty foot spikes

gouging into the earth. 

The world failing,

I turned in

to look for words.

How could I describe the way

all the time before

became nothing in a moment?

There were no moments before,

time was uninteresting,

deserved no inspection, as common 

as air, it

stretched around us, days into 

days, and then into a moment.

So I said nothing.

When words mattered most

they became intangible.

The sun rose spectacularly

though it didn’t know. 

I pretended 

It was just for me.