Can you ride a zebra?
You may think yes of course,

because they are a stripier,
smaller kind of horse,

but they are also grumpier,
with a bite to give you pause,

and certainly kick thumpier,
they’ll break a lion’s jaws,

so I really wouldn’t ride them:
train a zonkey or a zorse.

 

Zonkeys and zorses are real creatures. A zonkey is the offspring of a zebra and a donkey; a zorse is the offspring of a zebra and a horse.

 

 

Will Birkin is a civil servant. Poetry is his consolation. He lives in Ely with Wendy Cope, or rather Wendy also resides in Ely. He has been published in the Fenland Reed, Ink Sweat & Tears, and The Threepenny Review. He and his partner Becca have a small child, Anna, not yet two. He is Chairman of a care farm.