Baton

[constantine]

and our greatest odyssey was never written
by the poet or historian, but rather
in the sea, the mud and branches,
by those made in god's image -
perambulating upon four legs
or perhaps none at all, and
what was forgotten surpasses
all that is remembered
the eons of experience, that dies and then
is born again, singular unto itself, privy
to the herd and flock and school and swarm
that fly and swing and swim and climb
and die,
without knowing or caring why.
A legacy unasked for,
a way and a path, born
of necessity and death, unheralded
and unknown to all its practitioners
passing the baton in a race
that is forgotten upon completion
to be run, again and again
in the tides and currents of the matriarch elemental,
mother of the animal fates.

for Loren Eiseley

[gypsyjoker]

the continuity of germ plasm
Wiseman?Weitzman, something like that
the imortality of germ plasm
a bit passed on from generation to generation


remember
Ontology recapitulates phylogeny

a pretty neat idea, sort of still believed when I was still in college late fifties.

I can't remember a thing about Eiseley
Was it he who wrote Territorial Imperative?
But I love the seeing the big picture.
enjoyed reading this

I been playing around with

Cro-Magnon brain encapsulates phylogeny
If the space inside my skull is infinite.
Which I can't totally get behind.

dam I won't appologize for the ramble
just say thanks for the excuse to scribble.

[constantine]

robert ardrey wrote territorial imperative - a book i read quite a while ago along with his work african genesis. eiseley was an anthropologist, biologist, essayist and poet. here is an entry on him from wikipedia:Loren Eiseley

Loren Corey Eiseley (September 3, 1907–July 9, 1977) was a highly respected anthropologist, science writer, ecologist and poet. He published books of essays, biography and general science in the 1950s, '60s and '70s.

Eiseley is best known for the poetic essay style, called the "concealed essay". He used this to explain complex scientific ideas, such as human evolution, to the general public.

He is also known for his writings about humanity's relationship with the natural world. These helped inspire the environmental movement. Among his books are The Immense Journey (1957), Darwin's Century (1958), The Unexpected Universe (1969), The Night Country (1971), and the memoir All the Strange Hours (1975).

i've only read his book of essays "the immense journey" and found them to be profoundly beautiful, intelligent, and insightful.

[gypsyjoker]

Thanks for the information Dino
I will check him out