Andie Pandie Speaks
(As a child I was nicknamed Andie Pandie for the panda bear that I liked so much, one reason why I chose to do my ode for this animal. Also I was born in September, just like most pandas, and am a bit big boned too!)
September is my birth month and so it is because
my kind has some restrictiveness to its breeding laws!
For reasons unbeknownst to me, there only is one way
for us to meet, and so we only mate from March to May.
Our mothers carry us for just several months and then
in August or September we arrive inside our den.
So small and hairless at my birth, I’d make you smile, “Awww.”
My mama cradled me inside the palm of just one paw!
In two months I could see, and then I quickly learned to walk.
I ate bamboo at just eight months, and here is how I talk:
I chirp, or like a kid, I bleat; I croak, squeak, honk or growl.
And if I roar, it’s like a “huff;” for sure, I do not howl!
My mama nursed me eighteen months, then sent me on my way.
In one of China’s twelve preserves I can be found today.
The bamboo that we love grows in a patch and when it’s done,
We need to then uproot ourselves and find another one.
As people build more farms and cities, we then lose our space.
We need you humans’ help so we can move from place to place.
For Yangtze Basin to conserve bio diversity,
this economic central region has to include me!
I’m China’s treasure and the world’s! Who doesn’t know my name?
For fifty years my picture gave World Wildlife Fund its fame.
So help this big boned animal who rarely touches meat.
I’m just a Kung-fu giant “bear cat,” black and white and sweet!
For Amy Green's "Ode to the Endangered" contest
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