Moving Shades of Light and Dark

This is the second instalment of the adventures of this particular monkey. You can read the first instalment here.
This instalment was written for Manicddaily's prompt, Light and Dark for Groundhog Day at dVerse Poets

It was raining when I visited
the monkey in captivity. 
The squirrel monkey (as I am
now told he is) and sexy wife had both
been given names and set to work
with children's paints and brushes.

So are they thinking (Kerry speculates
of his tormentors, all-those-White-Coats-
looking-into-monkey-minds-and-how-
their-brains-perceive-the-world)
my cage is a round blob to me? 
that tree a longish smudge along the ground? 

Well yes, that sums it up, I guess. 
That's what they think. Paintings 1 to 5,
for instance. Monochrome. 
Dark, blotchy lines. Up and down the page.
Like ink blots that have run together.
Just one light corner. Bottom Right.
(That's where the sun pokes in the cage.)
Painted yellow. And then a growth
of pale blue crystals - seemingly.

First time, though, they all saw
it differently. A memory of the forest then.
Then came the day of darkness and a lorry parked
beside the cage, a blaze of light. Kerry
in his element -- until it moved. Then
he went ape and threw himself around
the cage and hurt his arm. Later he drew
lines across the page before attacking it
with vicious force. The theory was 
he had responded to the shadows of the bars,
the way they'd swept across the floor.

Kerry and Kitty often think 
(the theory also is) of all those images 
of heaven and of hell (their versions of, 
not ours) and sit there staring at 
the latest work (this one jointly executed)
without flinching hours and hours.

Their version of... consists (I'm told)
of shadows moving, creatures looming
(That's their hell) while heaven is
each other and their chattering.

Ask how they know a monkey's thoughts
and the white coats speak of
Stage 2 of their study.
This follows when a painting's 
finished, framed and hung.

The monkey sits 
like someone meditating,
immobilised, except the hands and eyes
are free. But nothing he can reach or see
except the painting. We scan the brain.
Observe which cells light up
and which go out. His latest painting
was a revelation, the way he 
circled blobs with his small finger,
but when we trundled bands of light
and darkness up and down the work
or columns of thick shadow horizontally,
he freaked out totally. Then when we let him go
he made for Kitty, stroked and cuddled her,
then ran back to the painting
and did the same to it. We have concluded 
that it's Kitty birthing fanny.

Their keeper, though, proclaims
he could have done as much -- no need
of scanners, infra red or head 
restraints -- all done with love 
and empathy. I, too, can follow --
 with my eyes -- to see
where their eyes go. 

The birthing picture Kelly worked with brush 
as kitty pointed to herself or stroked
to show where was the hidden birth canal, 
then making circles round her breasts 
and abdomen. Their gestures are
a proto language other monkeys know
(and we could learn if we got close enough)
They painted it small blobs at top 
where Kitty smiled, then larger 
going down to where she grimaced.
At the bottom: cries of pain. 
Biggest and best of all the blobs
with strongest darks and brightest lights
are here. Gold medal goes 
to Baby Fanny's head. 
Big feelings get big contrasts and big blobs.