ontogeny repeats phylogeny
It’s because we stood up
as Orrorin Tugenensis
six million years agothat we think god-
who is wise and from his thoughts
all things burst forth-is, like our brain, on top
in the blue in the sky
and that our feet walk
on a putrid earthA dog, contrariwise,
after a bath or just
for a surprise
horizontally spined
rolls in the dirt
to his everlasting joy.And the sparrows,
(who by the way will feed
from your hand if
you are in Montparnasse)
(but fly away in New York)
are in between,
sort of tipped 45 degrees
in the summer
take their baths
in the dirt
as if it were paradise.