What Might Have Been

 What Might Have Been


What a hoot! New evidence shows Neanderthals

were smarter than homo sapiens.

The joke’s on us now, after we have mercilessly

painted these predecessors as bumblingly stupid,

ugly, so inferior that they died off.

And we, the victors, carried our species

into the 21st century, rulers of the planet.

I wonder. If the Neanderthal had survived

that ice age, would we be in such trouble today?

A fluke of location meant they were

caught inescapably by the perils of climate.

So we with our inferior brains were left

to hold down the fort. Or not.

They say we have remnants of Neanderthal

genes in our DNA. That might help.

And surely at this point

we need all the help we can get.


Comments

  1. joann hodshonSeptember 7, 2022 at 10:15 AM

    great twist in the last 2 lines

    ReplyDelete
  2. JoyceSeptember 7, 2022 at 12:58 PM

    If we keep our heads, hearts, and spirits in balance it will be HUGE........

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Magnitude of Trees

It's been a busy couple of weeks here at Prairie Hill. Yet I'm told that a blog needs to post at least every two weeks. So here's something I wrote awhile back but never posted. Nice to have something like this as a back-up!   On this January Sunday morning, I had the pleasure of waiting at the front of my home for a ride to Friends Meeting. There was a thick fog, the temperature was mild, and it had not decided to start raining yet. The trees around our community stood out exquisitely from the fog. They had beautiful, intricate forms, all different shapes set against the horizon. I could have stood there for far longer, marveling at the beauty. And then when I got to Friends Meeting, the tree theme continued. As I was settling into the silence, I looked around me and found that there was wood everywhere. The benches we were sitting on were made of wood, old fashioned plain sturdy benches with wooden pegs to hold them together. And the floor under my feet was made of wooden...
Read more

Earth Week: Are We Listening to Her?

 I guess I would call myself an Earth Activist. Many of my activities are chosen because I want to learn from the natural world or support the healing of the earth. These days in the 21st century, when our planet's future is gravely called into question, it is easy to get angry at the folks who think climate change is a myth, or that it is crazy to let environmental factors slow down our manic rush for money. When I am frustrated by the divisions in this country along this subject, I make myself pause so that I can better understand why so many people are against caring for the earth. I think back to the culture that we baby-boomers were born into. Our philosophy in this country centered around individualism, competition, and succeeding in business (making lots of money). You knew you were successful of you topped the charts in whatever you did. Most of us increasingly lived in cities with paved streets and sidewalks, houses to be inside when we weren't at work, surrounded by m...
Read more

An Unexpected New Acquaintance

 We had snow in Iowa last week, and have had most night temperatures below freezing for quite awhile. So even though it is technically spring, it has not quite felt like it! But today the sun came out and the temperatures rose enough to encourage rambling around and looking for evidence of growth on trees and shrubs and perennials. That is always exciting! I've been thinking a lot lately about the permaculture principles that informed us as we planned our cohousing community. Permaculture is a philosophy that looks at whole systems: ecological systems, human systems, systems in the natural world. And one of the first things we're asked to do when beginning to practice permaculture is to observe. Starting small, observe the patterns in nature around you, as well as patterns in your immediate culture. And then expand your observations to wider views. One thing I love to do is sit in a natural setting, put away my phone, close my eyes, and take in where I am. And then imagine what...
Read more