Chitinous cousin to our hemichordate memories
remind us of our intimate
cellular closeness to every other cell,
our own pasts rendered into fibrous hues of keratin,
our hostile distance carefully composed in
anodyne gesture-armored courtesy.
Scales. Horn. Pre-cancerous
connection to the first
aggressive cellular mutation.
It is time we were made aware of our state
in the great microbial condition.
It is time we meet some antecedents:
Old Dogs from ancienter pasts.
Opabinia, far-and-near sighted.
Dvinia, small, Earth-sheltered.
A new trick every epoch or so.
Tricks for the next Big Event.
Opposable thumb, binocular vision.
Then the same old Extinction again.
Life roars.
Earth yawns.
Gapes.