EVOLUTION
Not a surface-world of steady, predictable motion.
We’d much prefer the soft curve of canoe spooned
by a placid lake, with little to no tidal break to upset
the measured stroke. A demure hand would have no
trouble navigating this rich velvet soupe de jour. But:
something churns … grunts out
with a little less grace … a little less form
no sinuous lines on a gallery wall
but a dark and fossilscrawled
cave … a rude ready-made
WARNING … wavy
leaf-edges
sometimes cut
the grasping hand
(or paw)
say it again … like you’re bearing down
………. evo-LOO-tion
and conjure up … slow ooze of life in a
viscous sac of fish eggs … the abrupt pop
of an angiosperm flowering a desert
a worm’s equilibrium
is punctuated
by the inaudible
gelatinous smack of its undulate thrust
Author’s Bio
ADAM LAWRENCE’s writing has appeared in Quills Canadian Poetry Magazine, Salon, JSTOR Daily, Vallum: Contemporary Poetry, and Feathertale.com. He’s taught writing and literature courses throughout eastern Canada, and is currently a freelance writer and editor in Montreal.