evolutionary kindergarten

by Cynthia Buell Thomas

Sunday 23rd October 2011 3:30 pm

from birth to death

sole goal - survival - food shelter procreation

physical packaging – noses eyes skin size

adaptive to given environments

polar tropical temperate mountains jungles deserts

group isolation for long ages

but erratic climates shifted tectonic plates drifted

peoples migrated

and mixed

through long ages

the strong the crafty controlled multiplied

grabbing land labour trade

time to settle

and mix

defensively protectively

the conquered closeted themselves with customs

habits that became their comforts continuity prideful identities

isolation of distance geography transport

less obstructive than separation

in terms of ‘like’ or ‘not like’ me

and people did not mix

environment dictates basic culture

food tools clothes music art literature even language

methods of self-expression morphed into mores

defining communal identity regional loyalties

traditions family imposed tribal enforced

behaviours individually valuable

stultifying when prescribed to be

the only way to see to do to think.

prejudices are attitudes multi-oriented

persuasions propagated for material gains

pervasive poisons to mind and heart

competition for limited spaces

housing the job market university places

jealousy of tighter disciplines implying brighter intellect

in sciences the arts and technology

envy of superior sexual prowess

insidiously promulgated in lazy literature

all nothing to do with persons

everything to do with survival

but humans are commonly bound

by thinking - philosophy

that unquenchable need to understand

to express beauty spirituality wisdom

truth love the meaning of life

by many paths by many names the same end

daily our diversities blend more into global community

resisted by romantic preservationists

decrying loss of multiplicities their varied stimuli

understandable but prone to defy the greatest natural law

change is the constant of progression

adapt or die

interdependence of communities

dictates recognition of common ideals respect for variety

but let us not be coy

sharing cultures means sharing bodies

eugenics proof of sameness not differences

homogenous children of Earth are inevitable

but then there will be other spurs to drive human development

perhaps glimpsed in science fiction or psychic mysticism

or that of which we have not yet even dreamed

those children will study their remote history

sifting through our infantile stuff

struggling to connect sympathetically

with the lost peoples of those first millennia

‘how silly' they will say 'how odd they were'

us !

in evolutionary kindergarten

Cynthia Buell Thomas

Comments

Elaine Booth

Tue 1st Nov 2011 21:56

This made for an absolutley fascinating read Cynthia and I would love to hear you read it. I ma sure the list-like lines would flow beautifully with pauses and intonations. I love your conclusion too and the build up to it in the previous stanzas. Excellent and thought-provoking.

Isobel

Sun 23rd Oct 2011 17:46

I love the thought in this Cynthia - you are such a philosopher and deep thinker - I love that quality about you.

I'm not sure you needed to turn this into a poem. It would work as well as an essay or just a piece of writing and would probably have given you more freedom to explore those ideas. I think the ideas are quite deep for it to work as a performance piece. I certainly had to think hard about it and that is hard to do without seeing the words before you. You'd definitely have to choose the right venue to perform it in, at any rate.

I love the end where you look at the children of the future, perceiving us as so backward. It kind of puts us in our place!

I very much enjoyed the read. xx

Harry O'Neill

Sun 23rd Oct 2011 16:16

Cynthia Phew! (That`s a compliment)

Read this after reading Winston`s piece about poetry and legislation. This seems to demonstrate how difficult it is to philosophise a poem (too much needs to be included)

To me, sections five and six are the most powerful.

However, I think many of us are too ready to accept the reality of biological evolution and to extrapolate the theory (it is only a theory) on to inappropriate things.

For instance, given the direction of recent embryonic experiments, it`s far from certain that `those things of which we have not even dreamed` will be quite as pleasant as we hope.
(I`m thinking of the fashion for ensuring that your children will be boys, and not girls)

Well worth the reading though - thanks!

Cynthia Buell Thomas

Sun 23rd Oct 2011 15:43

This work varies from introductory 'free-fall' thinking to its conclusion with some reasonably organized sentences, with combinations of both in-between. I have used minimal punctuation, so reading aloud would make it easier to follow (if interested). I think it is foremost a performance piece.

I am married to a black man with fraternal twin daughters - I could have gone anywhere with the theme. But it is the 'big picture' that really challenges me.

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evolutionary kindergarten

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