banana tycoon

a monkey stashes bananas like gold bars,
the others claw at the dirt,
ribcages poking out like scaffolding,
and the scientists come in,
clipboards and lab coats,
muttering about abnormalities,
something gone wrong in the wiring,
maybe a misfire in the brain.

but take a human who does the same,
who locks away bread while the masses eat dust,
and we slap their face on a magazine.
visionary, we call them.
genius.
we write books about how they did it
sell courses teaching others to do the same.

funny thing, though—
you put the monkey in a suit,
teach it to talk,
and it’s giving a TED Talk
on maximizing returns.

the world’s a zoo,
only us animals don’t know it.