How to Grow a Planet

inspired by a movie of the same name

Before the spurred skin of Grendel came, ‘his brutal blood caked claw’;

before the drifting murderer, Cain… what forces raw

gathered in the belly of monstrous Time,

and aimed up for softer fires…

A giant’s swell of dirt and rain and sun and oh! that nasty carbon:

     Has there yet been a splendid monster more

     than you, oh mighty, damned Sequoia?

 

Without a sound or painful cry, was there unnatural birth?

Of ozone given to the sky, as blue was given the ocean

More wide than any land...

 

What mad assembly of prowling bones wove terror in the night

and raged for hellish ruin?

Instead you dared to venture forth another gnarly beast,

to take some gentle kind of breath and crown the meek spectacular!:

    it were no burly bear competing - whose strength and muscle

    rippled into men’s stories and children’s ware:

    it were no whaler conquering  wild seas or deep-down fearsome creatures

    shivering  the waves…

 

1/8^th an inch of seed and a giants swell of dirt and rain

and sun and oh, that nasty carbon - holy mother of a tree!

Sequoia - you colossus:

    without a sound or painful cry, the first Atlas of the sky

    shouldering the ages, walling off the knifing winds - you enormous thing!

    But holy mother of a tree:

    can you withstand the warring cross-cut gone berserk

    at your knees?

Author's Note

‘his brutal blood caked claw’ - from Seamus Heaney's translation of the Beowulf epic (which I've not read in its entirety)

I wrote this on first impression of the Sequoia tree because, the tree was so very impressive! And found out it's evolutionary history, which is equally impressive.

Reviews

[Beccy]

Be it the mighty Sequoia, or the tiny little plankton, how nature perpetuates the gift of life is an outstandingly intricate and wondrous thing. Always, when I hear talk of, or become involved in discussion regarding evolution, it springs to mind that it all works too perfectly to be simply co-incidence.

And yes, you are right, we don't think about that enough.

Beccy.

[charlie]

Well, it may be co-incidental (that is to say, 'co-operative' and symbiotic), but that would hardly equate to "chance" or favourable accident; I agree.
A wonder indeed.
Thanks for reading, Beccy

[jacob erin-cilberto]

this poem matches the majesty of the tree for which it is written...
sprung from earth like all the good and evil in the world...but standing the test of time, growing stronger with each trial and tribulation...but can it withstand the heartlessness of man as he destroys nature...
that is the sad question. why can't we just leave beauty alone.

[charlie]

Yeah. Though it goes beyond simple beauty,.. these trees, and flora in general. Like; they actually generate an atmosphere which actually makes it possible for us to suck air. We don't think about that enough - collectively.

Thanks for reading, jacob. I think I failed on the majestic writing, but this subject does deserve more. I will keep on with this...
Cheers.