MOUNTAINVIEW A sunrise in France, The same on Kauai. From window I glance At mountain so high. Though ages apart And half world away, Their natural art Is full on display. In France the Ardeche Took eons to carve The canyons that stretch Beyond Pontd’Arc. Kauai’s canyons formed Much quicker in time From torrents of […]
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AFTER THE FACT The mystery of history Reduces all to sophistry If fecklessly, not skeptically, Accept we its validity. Did Kennedy form strategy Preventing Cuban tragedy When quarantined Fidel at sea? Or was it serendipity? Did atom bomb need dropping on To-be-defeated-soon Nippon, Because Japan, to its last man, Would fight invasion hand-to-hand? Was Civil […]
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WHERE NONE HAS GONE BEFORE Though we arrived just yesterday In geologic time, Appears we’ve had too much to say, And none of it sublime. Repeated cometary blasts, The forces needed to Turn species into fossils past When time was overdue. Like plague of locusts, we can scourge Wherever we alight. Primeval ecosystems purge. We’re quite […]
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“FOUR” CAST The earth’s been here four billion years, But humans mere four million. How often has the atmosphere Received a “global killing?” Have comets many seared the skies, Volcanoes oft erupted? What oceans parched till desert-dry And climates left disrupted? How many times has planet warmed, Engorged with greenhouse gasses, While glaciers melted and reformed […]
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THE HORSE’S TALE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_Horse) The story of the Trojan Horse Owes little to Homeric source. Its mention in the Odyssey’s About as brief as brief can be. It took a Roman to explain (Descendence from the Trojans claim) The tale of Grecian subterfuge, Epitome of classic ruse. For Virgil in Aeneid’sverse Records events of equine curse, Although […]
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ROMAN RUMINATION I went to visit ancient Rome, But found it never fell. Its buildings may seem crumbled stone, But it’s alive and well. Its mighty temples still exist Though in an altered form. Its rings of gold and amethyst Still fingers rich adorn. For in the City Vatican The emperor still reigns, Descended from Octavian, […]
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LOST NO MORE? Atlantis’s legend’s a mystery no more — Just Isles Santorini remain from its shore. Volcano that blew, fifteen hundred B.C., Replaced most of Thera with nothing but sea.* Seems Plato was right, even though off by ten When cited millennia nine as to when Atlantis had vanished in less than a day Since only […]
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DON’T LET THE SUN GO DOWN ON YOU (Based on the article “No Welcome Home” in The History Channel Magazine, January/February 2008, pp. 40-45; and other Internet sources) Ever hear of Sundown Town? Likely not, few tales around. History kept underground Lest embarrassment be found. Born and raised in Illinois, Town of Anna, since a boy? Went […]
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DAWN It shuffled across the savannah Toward shade from the rising sun. In each hand it carried banana Held firm by opposing thumb. An ape by all rights of appearance, Yet upright its ambling gait. To primate behavior adherence Except little quirk of late. Whenever would pass by some water, It often would stop to stare. […]
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FLIPPING OUT Every seven-fifty grand Earth performs a sleight of hand When magnetic north and south Make a total turnabout. Sun does same each dozen years Minus one, when sunspots clear. Relatively quick event Due to plasma turbulent. Earth contains no plasma hot, Just a core of molten rock. But this has the same effect, Quite […]
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