Grünbein, Durs. “To a Chimpanzee in the London Zoo,” “To a Penguin in the New York Aquarium,” “To an Okapi in the Munich Zoo,” and “To a Cheetah in the Moscow Zoo.”

Grünbein dedicates his poems to animals in specific zoos in order to explore different aspects of animal captivity. His reflections subtly capture how the animals suffer through being alienated from the wild, but also point out the tragedy of animals as living memorials and prisoners in times of mass extinction, habitat loss, and poaching.

Secondary readings:

• Simones, Annette. 2019. “Intermediality in Twentieth Century Animal Poetry: Guillaume Apollinaire – Ted Hughes – Durs Grünbein.” Taking Stock – Twenty-Five Years of Comparative Literary Research, ed. Norbert Bachleitner, Achim Hölter, and John McCarthey, 372 – 396. Leiden: Brill.

Grünbein, Durs. 2005. “To a Chimpanzee in the London Zoo,” “To a Penguin in the New York Aquarium,” “To an Okapi in the Munich Zoo,” and “To a Cheetah in the Moscow Zoo.” In Ashes For Breakfast: Selected Poems, trans. Michael Hofmann. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux.