FESTIVAL OF ORIGINS
after Primo Levi
Back in time, after forty days of rain
Thousands of animal species drowned.
For months, world was quiet, dark.
Water lapped on breathless shores,
was absorbed. Earth became a roil of mud.
In the collective sucking and shlucking
emerged rebirth. Out of the conjugation of
valleys, trees, rocks, plains, and skies
evolved a range of different species.
Giraffes were made from mountains
strutting sunshine. Hippos were born
from the union of water and stone.
Lions prowled from thunder and sky.
Whales were spawned by cavorting islands.
Turtles grew out of rocks and sand.
Bats came from breezes swooping the land.
Chimpanzees sprang from a dance of leaves.
Unicorns flew out of the precipitation between
Earth and soil.
The gibber and chatter, song, and shrieks
told tales of life’s Beginning: its loves
battles, famines, feasts, until its fiery
climactic cycle…then a bang…
Dead silence returned.
A SPRING CONCERT AT THE FARNHAM, CAVAN
Arrows of limelight split the trees
To direct a play of sun and leaf
Delicate sprays of pink cuckoo flower
sing between the ivy strung bowers
Blasts of sharp garlic battle the breeze
tussle for dominance with wood anemones.
By the lake, bugleweed blows its own airs
accompanied by the drumroll heard in the scamper
of four-pawed animal. Shy fern leaves blossom
and unfurl a hundred score of tiny cellos.
In the dusty soil of the fairy pine wood,
gnarled ancient roots twist to conduct
an overture to a moving Spring concert.
