The Origins of Poetry

The Origins of Poetry       Brooke DiGia

 

On a particularly ashen epoch,

sky-spindles weaving the clouds

until they were as impenetrable

as the ocean below, horizons

a mesh of the two (the blueness of sky

something arcane now), God dove

down from his                                     heaven

                      

Calliope was born too long ago

but she still cried like a child

from the absence of creatures

inclined to weave tales;

            [seclusion]                                is not meant

for storytellers.

 

In the ocean, primordial soup,

God visited the chambered nautilus

and said: creatures I have ascribed to land

do not call up to Calliope, but you

must know of a suitable story for her.

                                    I know not of such a story.

You have been here for eons.

                                    Uneventful eons.

Uneventful? I created a new world!

                                    Creatures have not moved since

                                    then.

Why have the creatures not moved?

                                    What is there for them to move for?

(in a godly sardonic tone) How may I make the creatures move?

                                    Endow them with the legs to move beyond the sea…

And?

                                    Physical movement will inspire mental movement.

                                    Calliope shall have her stories.

 

(Take note: God’s lesson from one of his own creatures

was omitted in ensuing texts)

 

Intrigued, God fixated on the plankton;

in these eukaryotic cells

he infused the indescribable,

rivulets of vitality through cytoplasm,

granted them microscopic appendages

and said: Move & Describe.

So out of the ocean they moved,

the task of description bundled

in the nucleus of poetry

strapped to their cellular backs

 

it is time we realized

our penchant for poetry

predates what we call

Homo sapiens sapiens;

not in our minds the essence lies

but in our very bodies.