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| Cartoon by Joel Pett for Planet Under Pressure |
Lizards skittering across the trail
Birds decorating the woods
With song
And me wondering
If there is some miniscule
Cluster of neurons
In the tiny brains of lizards and birds
That stores the memory of when
Their Mesozoic ancestors
Were the planet’s Big Kahunas
And fills them with nostalgia
For the glory days
I like to think that the dinosaurs
Didn’t go out kicking and screaming
That they ceded supremacy graciously
Then lumbered off
To the distant edges
Of the possible world
Willing to grow small
Rather than disappear forever
Which might not be
Such a bad idea
For us
Buff Whitman-Bradley is the author of four books of poetry, b. eagle, poet; The Honey Philosophies; Realpolitik; and When Compasses Grow Old; and the chapbook, Everything Wakes Up! His poetry has appeared in many print and online journals. He is also co-editor, with Cynthia Whitman-Bradley and Sarah Lazare, of the book About Face: Military Resisters Turn Against War. He has co-produced/directed two documentary films, the award-winning Outside In (with Cynthia Whitman-Bradley) and Por Que Venimos (with the MIRC Film Collective). He lives in northern California.