Login
|
Join PoetrySoup
Home
Submit Poems
Login
Sign Up
Member Home
My Poems
My Quotes
My Profile & Settings
My Inboxes
My Outboxes
Soup Mail
Contest Results/Status
Contests
Poems
Poets
Famous Poems
Famous Poets
Dictionary
Types of Poems
Quotes
Short Stories
Articles
Forum
Blogs
Poem of the Day
New Poems
Resources
Syllable Counter
Anthology
Grammar Check
Greeting Card Maker
Classifieds
Member Area
Member Home
My Profile and Settings
My Poems
My Quotes
My Short Stories
My Articles
My Comments Inboxes
My Comments Outboxes
Soup Mail
Poetry Contests
Contest Results/Status
Followers
Poems of Poets I Follow
Friend Builder
Soup Social
Poetry Forum
New/Upcoming Features
The Wall
Soup Facebook Page
Who is Online
Link to Us
Member Poems
Poems - Top 100 New
Poems - Top 100 All-Time
Poems - Best
Poems - by Topic
Poems - New (All)
Poems - New (PM)
Poems - New by Poet
Poems - Random
Poems - Read
Poems - Unread
Member Poets
Poets - Best New
Poets - New
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems Recent
Poets - Top 100 Community
Poets - Top 100 Contest
Famous Poems
Famous Poems - African American
Famous Poems - Best
Famous Poems - Classical
Famous Poems - English
Famous Poems - Haiku
Famous Poems - Love
Famous Poems - Short
Famous Poems - Top 100
Famous Poets
Famous Poets - Living
Famous Poets - Most Popular
Famous Poets - Top 100
Famous Poets - Best
Famous Poets - Women
Famous Poets - African American
Famous Poets - Beat
Famous Poets - Cinquain
Famous Poets - Classical
Famous Poets - English
Famous Poets - Haiku
Famous Poets - Hindi
Famous Poets - Jewish
Famous Poets - Love
Famous Poets - Metaphysical
Famous Poets - Modern
Famous Poets - Punjabi
Famous Poets - Romantic
Famous Poets - Spanish
Famous Poets - Suicidal
Famous Poets - Urdu
Famous Poets - War
Poetry Resources
Anagrams
Bible
Book Store
Character Counter
Cliché Finder
Poetry Clichés
Common Words
Copyright Information
Grammar
Grammar Checker
Homonym
Homophones
How to Write a Poem
Lyrics
Love Poem Generator
New Poetic Forms
Plagiarism Checker
Poetics
Poetry Art
Publishing
Random Word Generator
Spell Checker
Store
What is Good Poetry?
Word Counter
Email Poem
Your IP Address: 3.136.234.163
Your Email Address:
Required
Email Address Not Valid.
To Email Address:
Email Address Not Valid.
Required
Subject
Required
Personal Note:
Poem Title:
Poem
Before the primate known as “man” became loquacious, With all his fishnet shenanigans, skylarking monkey shines, And thermo-nuclear weapons, There was a time when words among men Had not yet become discrete utterances Encoded with agreed upon meanings. It was a time when disputes were rarely settled Through diplomatic concordance. During that long stretch of pre-history, Our ancestors’ best efforts at verbal communication Consisted of assorted grunts, howls, squeals, screams, cries, And presumably laughter. Conflict negotiation in Paleolithic times Might have involved all these primitive sound bites, But would most likely conclude with blood being spilled. The development of verbal language among humans Would require the evolution, over many generations, of various specific anatomical adaptations. The mechanisms that enable us to fill our lungs with air And expel it in a gymnastic manner up our throats, Around our tongues, through our teeth, and past our lips, Allow us to produce all the recognizable vocalizations That comprise all the languages of the world With all their vocabularies and grammars. For most of pre-history the genus Homo Merely grunted, howled, squealed, screamed, cried, And occasionally, it might be hoped, laughed. The development of verbal language among humans Would lead to the invention of promises, oaths, and vows, But also lies, deception, and inhuman oppression. In the end, we are all just talking monkeys. Talking monkeys that still grunt, howl, squeal, scream, cry, And sometimes laugh, whether it’s appropriate or not. Talking monkeys armed with thermo nuclear weapons. Human history may be heading to an inevitable conclusion; Talking monkeys will never be anything other than talking monkeys.
CAPTCHA Preview
Type the characters you see in the picture
Required