The Zoic Chain
The Zoic Chain
My parents always seemed to be humane,
Protecting beasts once sought with spear or bow,
And eating guiltily the ones still slain,
Ennobling evolution’s theme . . . although
They gave me newer weapons, bats and balls,
To use with spindly arms and legs as best
I could in childhood games —or vicious brawls
When status hung on challenges addressed.
And that began a surge of rivalries
Legitimized in orchestrated bouts,
Our high-school football’s warlike strategies,
Its rowdy triumphs, its coach-demoting routs
And next my car became a roaring beast
To awe competing studs, whom I deflated
With reckless speed, and also thus increased
My sexual rights with all the girls I dated.
And college finished, then came subtler striving:
A résumé puffed up and bargains struck,
Some nineteenth hole and locker-room conniving,
Astounding corporate climbs through lies and luck.
And now my Rolls and three –piece suit make plain
That I don’t care if moralists reject us
For I at least now head old Darwin’s chain —
I’m first among the species homo erectus.
(2007)
#RhymeSatiric