“When our slippery ancestor wriggled onto shore
it could not guess what lay in store” (Anon.)
Hooked and hauled in, flung down onto the sand to flap,
arching, flopping, struggling to work his way back
into the sea — the whole Atlantic waiting for him, cheering him on,
wave after wave, willing him home, but the scales soon
loose their sheen under the sun
and the glow in the eyes goes dull.
Born consumers, we couldn’t resist the bait.
The other night, I saw Daddy-o lift the lid
of the tureen to check out the Bouillabaisse.
The fish and assorted fruit de mer were still bubbling as,
holding the lid higher, He inhaled the fragrance
that rose like incense, the dining table with its lighted candles
serving as an altar of sorts, I suppose.
Bubbling, ready to serve. That’s us.
Lord, what a fairy tale! You couldn’t make this kind of thing up
up, up, and away, as the saying goes — or went
back in the day when Superman was a reporter
on a major metro daily named Clark Kent.
Save us, Clark, for we are lost in space and
running out of time.
Daddy-o, having inhaled the fragrance, closes the astrodome lid.
The dome slips over the stadium noiselessly, like a swollen eye closing.
Now it is not only the cheerleaders who are leaping. The whole stadium
is on its feet, as if goosed, as if bleachers and boxes had been wired,
the very numbers leaping off the scoreboard as if superheated, scorched,
and running for cover, hoping, praying Clark can find a phone booth fast.
A cry from the crowd: God save the Wurlitzer! as the huge organ glows red,
swelling like a boil about to burst, while – lo! – smiling Mike is scalped by
his own halo and the specter of Al Haig, gripping the arms of his wheel chair,
cries out, “I’m in charge here!” as he rolls out onto the field, which is opening
like a gigantic mouth responding to a dentist’s instruction, revealing a chasm,
even as Clark struggles to don his garment within the confines of a phone booth.
The obsolete telephone starts ringing its head off. Clark! Clark! It’s Yellowstone calling.
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DON’T MISS BOUILLABAISSE BONUS QUIZ BELOW
Quick Quiz: Al Haig was: a) the founder of a Scotch whiskey manufacturer, b) a British general in World War I, c) a former U.S. Secretary of State, and Chief of Staff
Smiling Mike is: a) a used car salesman often seen on tv, b) a Hoosier haberdasher, c) a sanctimonious, political Uriah Heap.
The putative ancestor of all living vertebrates – Pikaia gracilens – found in fossil form in 1911 in the Burgess Shale fossil beds in Canada’s Yoho National Park had a) a well-developed spine, b) a flexible or Mike-like vertebra, c) a notochord
Fun Facts: The answer to all three of the above is c.
The answer to the unasked question Is Yellowstone a volcano? Yes. In fact, it is a super volcano
Master Class Question! Which of the following statements was made by famed science writer Stephen Jay Gould? We are here a) because one odd group of fishes had a peculiar fin anatomy that could transform into legs for terrestrial creatures. b) because the earth never froze entirely during an ice age, and c) because a small species arising in Africa a quarter of a million years ago, has managed, so far, to survive by hook and by crook.
The answer: All three statements were made by famed science writer Stephen Jay Gould!
Bouillabaise Bonus: Portrait of forebear as a marine creature – Pikaia gracilens – 500 million years ago.
