Permian

 Some thoughts on the comings and goings of organisms and epochs.

Permian

– steve peterson

When the trilobites,

the eurypterids,

the brachiopods

crumble

from the limestone

do they captivate you,

capture the vision of

your mind’s eye

and turn it inward,

do you wonder

at their anonymous lives

lived on this spot

enveloped in mud and the 

warm and ancient sea?

Today was made from

what survived when carbon

filled the air and heated a planet,

acidified the oceans. But who cares

if 97% of some unknown

organism dies?

From the ashes

we tiny mammals grabbed hold

of a niche and 

wrenched open an epoch.

Our anonymous lives

crumble from the limestone.

I wish I could

witness the witnesses.