There was no father gorilla
to take his part
scratch out the gardener’s insides
toss the dairymaid into a tree
wrench off Sir John’s head
crack the keeper’s skull
with his teeth as if a coconut
Tom did not remember ever having a father
He might hide in a bush
swarm up a tree
had he not known it
a very different place
boughs laid hold of his legs
poked his face and stomach
birches birched him soundly
as if a nobleman at Eton
lawyers tripped him up
as if they had shark’s teeth
which lawyers likely have
A cunning little fellow
but ten years old
lived longer than most stags
had more wits to start with
The old grouse came back
to his wife and family
the end of the world is not quite come
it is coming the day after tomorrow
© Andrew Wilson, 2024
This is a found poem with words derived from The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley. The title – Evolution, is because Kingsley was a naturalist around the exciting time when the work of Wallage and Darwin were revolutionising the worlds of science, geology and biology and there will be found poems that reference this aspect of the tale. But so far, the finding of poems has been more like the method for refining poems since Kingsley writes very lyrical passages anyway…
The image is derived in Midjourney.
This series was inspired by my friend Misky over at It’s Still Life who has been producing a series of Found Poems…