Millions of years ago,
Life bubbled into being
In a world without walls…
While the World Environment Day steps in once a year, we live in an ever-changing environment every moment of our lives. The environment is what we make of it as it continues to evolve around us. It is impacted by our very presence. There was a time when all the world was a huge continent — Pangaea. Climate must have been as different as the flora and fauna then by what scientists tell us.
We have come a long way since that period. Looking at the concerns we face today, the United Nations has announced a plastic awareness drive. Plastic is not natural… but of human origin, just like United Nations. Climate change is the focus of the whole world, as temperatures rise, ice-caps melt and the weather turns more unpredictable.
In this special issue, we have poetry from around the world showcasing the evolution of Earth, climate change, the way life has evolved and will continue to evolve —
Dreams of Disenchantment: Poetry by Michael Burch maps how man has contributed to global disasters through history. Click here to read.
Specks & Spirits: Showcasing selected poetry excerpted from Rhys Hughes’ latest anthology of global voices,Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: Light Verse about Life & Other Heavy Things, these poems map the historic evolution of life on Earth, of humans, celebrate the diversity of flora and fauna and muse to wonder at our evolving place in the Universe… Click here to read.
Excerpted from Rhys Hughes latest anthology of light verses, Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: Light Verse about Life & Other Heavy Things with contributions from writers across all continents, except from Antarctica, these poems stretch a little to reflect on the wonders of the universe, both past and present with perhaps, an evolutionary sense of humour. They make you smile, ponder and pause…
SPIRIT ANIMALBy Richard Temple
I am cuttlefish:
jet propelled cephalopod –
self-defence with ink.
MY NAME IS LUCABy Rhys Hughes
My name is LUCA,
I live on the second floor
of a hydrothermal vent.
I am the Last Universal
Common Ancestor
of all life on Earth today,
including aardvarks, gibbons,
walruses and jesters.
I don’t live upstairs from you
and you have probably
never seen me before,
unless you have a time machine
and a very good submarine.
My name is LUCA,
I lived on the second floor
billions of years ago.
THE HUMAN RACEBy Tim Newton Anderson
The Human Race was started by Darwin’s gun
Early runners were Kenyapithecus,
Orrorin, Sahelanthropus and Griphopithecus
Neanderthals fell out at the Pleistocene after a model run
Followed shortly by Heidelbergensis
and then by another - Homo Rudolfensis
And so it was, by a stride, that Austrelopithecus won
SWEET SABRE-TOOTHED TIGERBy Rhys Hughes
Sweet Sabre-Toothed Tiger,
your mate has gone into labour.
She will deliver eight or nine kittens
like uncomfortable mittens
and you will dance and drink cider
to celebrate their arrival
into the unspoiled ancient world.
Palaeolithic cider, of course,
because that’s all there was back then
before the invention of gin.
THE PLATYPUSBy Roman Godzich
A famous creature is the Platypus.
Not noted for its song and dance.
It still commands such great respect
Despite the fact that so few ever get the chance
To see one in the wild alone
Or even in the tame with others.
The Platypus stands sole, dear heart
And far away from other brothers.
Its culinary skills set it apart
And not for what it does with mustard
THE COMMITTEE By Doug Skinner
A wolf, a horse, a rat, a goose,
A frog, a rattlesnake, a moose,
A wallaby, a flea, a stoat,
A chimp, a bear, an eel, a goat,
A kinkajou, a brace of quail,
A pig, a crocodile, a whale,
A hummingbird, a snail, a hawk,
A manatee, a carp, an auk,
A mole, a duck, a bandicoot,
An octopus, a cat, a newt,
A unicorn, a cockatrice,
A badger, and a dozen mice
Sat down in one tremendous ring
And disagreed on everything.
MANGO PULP FICTIONBy Maithreyi Karnoor
Like vanquished kings and squished nothings
The alphonsos, here, have no show
Without the ring of the hype and bling
Sweetly loved the mancurads grow
Here pulp fiction has got its own diction
Old uncle Albuquerque barbed in his garb
When comes in for a juicy benediction
Is redeemed as silly Albukar baab.
FLOWER MAY MOON By Jeanne Van Buren
Flower moon, I waited tonight to see you
at your brightest
shining down on dogwood blossoms and lilacs
I need sleep
couldn’t rest till I saw you
like lost love.
TRANSIENCE?By Mitali Chakravarty
A butterfly flits from flower
to flower sipping honey.
A bloom is but a transient
passenger that rides on
waves of time. And yet, the
poet who writes of the bloom
and the butterfly looks for
immortality in words. Will
words change over eons? Will
histories change? Will Earth
remain? What are we but a
drifting speck in the Universe?
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