Kathryn Jacobs

Grasshoppers are Smarter

          

Now, grasshoppers are smarter. Ever seen
a mockingbird start hopping like it chased
a popcorn kernel?  Hoppers dodge about
deliberately:  dart forward, double-back . . .

but never at the monster; come what may,
you'll never see one help the hunter out.
Whoever wins, deserves it. Whereas we . . .
we're not even as fast.  And yet it's we
         
who lurch in slo-mo, indiscriminately,
like drunken ping-pong balls. And who but we
skip blindfold among tigers: prance about
until we kick some monster in the nose?