Reader Response: "at the zoo"

     There is a specific line in the poem "at the zoo" on page 243 that really captures the difficulties humans have in overcoming loneliness.  Here's the quote:

"this is the way the gods have arranged it
for the moment:
one caring
one not caring"

     This is a heartbreaking but common phenomenon, especially among young people plugged into unstable and unpredictable emotional outlets.  It seems that everyone is breaking someone's heart at some point in time, while the person doing the heartbreaking is simultaneously getting their heart broken by someone else.  To me it seems rare that two people can balance eachother, especially in teenage relationships without "one caring/ one not caring".