Deathbound Notions Attuned

      Deathbound Notions Attuned

Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem

……….

The minds we have in us emerged, arose

Arose through chemicals, mere matter first,

Then mindlessness like vegetables, a rose

Or pitcher plant, or through amoeba burst

To consciousness in dinosaur-like beast,

From there to consciousness of self and then

From whales and primates which among the least

Of them has thought and not just instinct, men

And mothers, children—all of us—with sway

Of instinct and of thinking helixed, twined

Together, many promptings, thoughts with prey

And prayer mixed up, the low and high combined.

  The brain is dappled and striated, set

    With things unknown, both holiness and threat.

Phillip Whidden