Unlike You

The capability 

for intelligence

in the human species 

is not in question

You’ve invented,

you’ve created,

you’ve built,

But despite years of
overwhelming
scientific data
and a multitude
of observational studies,
humans still too often
dismiss the intelligence
of every animal species
except their own

Thinking you
are the only
intelligent species
is not very, um,
intelligent

Is your brain
so vastly superior
because they,
unlike you,
have not figured out
how to base their lives
around debt
to an invented
paper currency?

Because they,
unlike you,
don’t have to clock 
in and out of work
every damn day 
to complete tasks
someone else
determines
must be done?

Are these the ways
in which they have failed

in satisfactorily 

demonstrating to you

their intelligence?

Chinook salmon,
unlike you,
leave the river
of their birth
with just their body
to guide them
and venture
thousands of miles
to spend years
in the ocean,
only to return
to the exact
river of their birth
when they are ready 
to procreate

The line starts
at the door
for the “superior” 
humans who want to
give that a go

The northern bald ibis,
unlike you,
in beautifully 
choreographed flight
coordinates uniformly
precise movements
in the blink of an eye

A human
will walk out
of a bar tonight
and stumble
over a stool

Bottlenose dolphins,
like you,
have a complex
communication system
that shares both
joys and fears

That we cannot
understand their voice
is a challenge
to our intelligence,
not theirs

The red deer
of Eurasia,
like some of you,
cast their votes,
democratically
deciding to
conclude grazing
and travel onward
when sixty percent
of the herd
returns to their feet

Humans still can’t
agree if a gay couple 
should be entitled 
to have a cake 
professionally baked 
for their wedding

Humans have not 
cornered the market
on intellect;
In fact, you daily
make us question
your strength in
rational thought

When you don’t
see kindness,
compassion,
family bonds,
relationships
and love
in other species,
it is only because
you fail to look

Of all the species
with similar brains and
central nervous systems,
thinking you,
as a species,
have a monopoly
on empathy
shows what
limited grasp
of said ability
you actually possess

The idea that
animals aren’t
intelligent
or empathetic
has been long ago 
shattered by science

We only cling 
tightly to it,
like Linus 
to his blanket,
so we can more easily
sleep at night,
despite knowing
we continually
drive them
towards their death

But I don’t mean

to disrupt your 

feelings of superiority,

your delusions that

pain and love

belong only to you,

or at the least,

that yours are

the only feelings

that matter

You can resume

scrolling through

countless cat pictures 

on Facebook,

filling the ocean with plastic,

polluting the air you breathe

and the water you drink,

fulfilling fantasy taboos

on Pornhub,

or whatever else 

superior beings do

to fill the days 

of those vastly 

superior lives

25 Dec 2018