Trumpeter (1990)

ISSN: 0832-6193

American History in Context

Antler
Trumpeter

500,000 years ago sleepy chipmunks
    snuggled in their burrows.
 400,000 years ago doe
    nibbled ladyslipper.
 300,000 years ago
    dust on tiger swallowtail wing.
 200,000 years ago
    whirligig beetle whirligigged.
 100,000 years ago
    blue heron still as a statue
 50,000 years ago
    male seahorse belly-pouch
      swollen with herd of
    perfectly shaped baby seahorses.
 25,000 years ago
    leopard frog on lilypad
 10,000 years ago
    male wasp stroking female wasp antennae
      lightly with his mouthparts
    as they copulate on the wing
      from flower to flower.
 Right now hippo shitting and pissing
    while whirling its tail like a propellor
      scattering the mess in all directions.
 10,000 years from now
    opossum scurries across 
      overgrown road.
 25,000 years from now
    lobsters grappling lobsters
      with giant chelae.
 50,000 years from now
    alligator snapper huge mouth agape
      wriggling pink worm-like tongue
    to attract unwary fish.
 100,000 years from now
    female praying mantis clasps her mate
      eating his eyes and head
    causing headless corpse to writhe and kick
      till nothing's left
    but his penis still ejaculating
      in her ovipositor.
 200,000 years from now
    yellow pollen-hung anthers
      of a red columbine.
 300,000 years from now
    a white pine in spring
      smells just as good.
 400,000 years from now
    a black bear sighs
      in her hibernation den.
 500,000 years from now sleepy chipmunks
    snuggle in their burrows.