Poems about Science 3: Evolution

POEMS ABOUT SCIENCE 3: EVOLUTION Peers by Michael R. Burch These thoughts are alien, as through green slime smeared on some lab tech’s brilliant slide, I grope, positioning my bright oscilloscope for better vantage, though I cannot see, but only peer, as small things disappear— these quanta strange as men, as passing *****. And you, Great Scientist, are you the One, or just an intern, necktie half undone, white sleeves rolled up, thick documents in hand (dense manuals you don’t quite understand), exposing me, perhaps, to too much Light? Or do I escape your notice, quick and bright? Perhaps we wield the same dull Instrument (and yet the Thesis will be Eloquent!). Options Underwater: The Song of the First Amphibian by Michael R. Burch *“Evolution’s a Fishy Business!”* 1. Breathing underwater through antiquated gills, I’m running out of options. I need to find fresh Air, to seek some higher Purpose. No porpoise, I despair to swim among anemones’ pink frills. 2. My fins will make fine flippers, if only I can walk, a little out of kilter, safe to the nearest rock’s sweet, unmolested shelter. Each eye must grow a stalk, to take in this green land on which it gawks. 3. No predators have made it here, so I need not adapt. Sun-sluggish, full, lethargic—I’ll take such nice long naps! The highest form of life, that’s me! (Quite apt to lie here chortling, calling fishes saps.) 4. I woke to find life teeming all around— mammals, insects, reptiles, loathsome *birds*. And now I cringe at every sight and sound. The water’s looking good! I look Absurd. 5. The moral of my story’s this: don’t leap wherever grass is greener. Backwards creep. And never burn your bridges, till you’re sure leapfrogging friends secures your Sinecure. Davenport Tomorrow by Michael R. Burch Davenport tomorrow ... all the trees stand stark-naked in the sun. Now it is always summer and the bees buzz in cesspools, adapted to a new life. There are no flowers, but the weeds, being hardier, have survived. The small town has become a city of millions; there is no longer a sea, only a huge sewer, but the children don't mind. They still study rocks and stars, but biology is a forgotten science ... after all, what is life? Davenport tomorrow ... all the children murmur through vein-streaked gills whispered wonders of long-ago. Keywords/Tags: science, evolution, fish, fishy, amphibians, reptiles, bird, birds, insect, insects #AI #RAD #RADICAL #MRBIA #MRBRAD #MRBRADICAL #MRBSCIENCE