we went and arrived by ancient subway
the car loudly rattling through all its steel bones
–our much softer ones did the same–
charging and drooling, finally to slither
onto its destined pause at the grand museum
where you and i hopped out, quite queasy
like mammals surviving the last extinction.
our evolved bipedal limbs clambered quickly up the stone stairways
which opened on vast displays--every chamber
a courtyard, palace, temple
to Nature and its limitless past:
giant totems, microcosmic dioramas,
spotted replicas and carcasses of so many creatures
(though we touched butterflies live hatching, hatched).
yet we knew, evinced gigantically on entrance,
that dragon bones, DRAGON BONES, were it, were the thing,
i.e., were everything; over myriad exhibits, the whole edifice, dominating!
now later, reflecting, deflecting, we deem that seemed proper
since they were here far long before, and for far more long
than any who clutch phones, etc. more readily than each other’s hands
who anxiously expand, expend themselves, in oil smoke, black mirrors
About the Creator
Mark Francis
Published translator of verse and original writer of haiku, senryu, lyric, occasional and genre poetry and speculative fiction.
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Comments (3)
Marvelous. I felt the train ride, saw the dinosaurs, and agree that we should clutch hands more often than cell phones.
Liked it.
Thank you for sharing. I look forward to reading more of your wonderful poetry! Good