031821b

 

frogs living 

in an elephant's footprint

they're coming back

100620c

 

Living Sessile

Having packed the third floor with debris, Compton moved to the attic, and prepared to raise the roof. Again.

082020c

 

Bacteria don't spoil the meat at all, for their progeny. Not till the last bite, anyway. Kinda like humans.

062420

single-celled giants

on the deep Pacific floor

dredges are coming

051720c

bison played

packed prairie drumbeat

hot wind blowing

022520e

Not a rengay without verse-altering substances


remember koalas?
we burned ther trees
the survivors starved

the dodo ran
but it ran too slow

passenger pigeons
we clubbed and shot
every blessed one

too dumb to spare
the honey bee

whales
the seas used to sing
like a global organ

quiet
under the winking stars
a little too quiet

dinosaurs lasted almost
to the bitter end

pronghorns?
the last American antelopes
starved behind fences

giraffes ended
on assholes' walls

back to bacteria
for this old orb
game over

091119b

battlefield reef
neighbor grows over neighbor
by hard-won mm

062319b

there is something missing
some element, or enzyme, or bacterium
the plants are dying
they have sun, they have water,
they have all the minerals we know to give them
but they wither, turn brown,
break apart and blow way
on the artificial breeze

If Earth still lived
and there were agronomists
maybe the problem could be solved
before we were all gone

As it is
this is the last space habitat
soon we will be eating each other
and then no one will be left
unless bacteria still live
miles below the surface
of our murdered planet

091118

a smog-mantled Earth
sightless gaze
at the now-green moon

032218b

Paleontology workshop for teachers
Mainly aimed at K-12 teachers, but also appropriate for informal educators
October 16, 2018, West Alabama

Our focus this year is on evidence that fossils provide of interactions among organisms. What species grew on the shells of other species (or on other members of their own species). What animals drilled holes into other animals to make a living or to get dinner.. Which animals used their big strong teeth to bite into which other animals. And so on. We can learn a lot about the community by looking at clues preserved on the remains that we find.

And of course, participants get Lost Worlds in Alabama Rocks, one of the best books there is describing the fossils and rocks of a particular region so that anyone can understand. Many other publications and goodies will also be provided free.


You can use the registration form below, but email me if you have any problems with it.

012418

aerial sharks
squirrels learn to hide
cats and dogs move indoors

100517b

the krill turned
on their gigantic predators
taste for blood

062017b

beetle world
under a rotten log
beetles and worms
spiders and newts
cast their votes
for the next generation
of the world

051717b

Walking for science!


Years ago I did this workshop, which I borrowed from another source that I have since forgotten, about tracks and track analysis. You roll out a long piece of paper on the floor (blank newsprint or unused plotter paper both work well — there are usually pretty long pieces at the ends of rolls that, for some reason or another, can't be used for their intended purposes) people step in tempera paint (which will not wash off clothing!) and then walk down the paper. Or run. Or hop. After all, animals don't always walk the same way either. Anyway, then you use a meter stick to measure foot length, pace, and stride. There's a pretty standard ratio in humans between foot length and leg length and because you have the actual legs handy, you can calculate it for the particular group. (It's a fun exercise to then use the number for dinosaurs and compare.) Then using some well-known formulas you can calculate walking speed and fun things like that. Kids always enjoy the first part of the project even if they don't necessarily enjoy the calculations. If they don't want to get paint on their feet they can wear gallon Ziploc bags with rubber bands holding them on. But come on, who doesn't want red or blue feet!

This is a fun activity with major implications for hunting, biology, and paleontology. Students of trace fossils, ichnologists, do this all the time.

If you want the guidebook I wrote for the activity, drop me a line and I'll send you a PDF email me at jopnquog at gmail.

041317

To Luna, Quickly
 

we're all flying to the moon
the swifts arrive first, obv
but even the slugs go
piggy-backing on the bats
and between the toes of owls
the water there is frozen
and the air is thin
but after the 6-minute war
it's clear they can't stay on Earth

seeds arrive tucked into cheek pouches
of rodents and rabbits on the backs of eagles
who will need something to hunt, after all
no one knows how the elephants did it
but there they are

the forests of the moon are underground
naturally
air is trapped in the caverns
rich in oxygen
light is reflected from crystal formations
deep into the moon
the pale leaves remember the sun

there are no humans
no H. pigstyense
God forbid!




Inspired by a poem by Jane Yolen

101916

late sun glows on the
cosmos blooms
stalking the garden
in years' time
seeds at the ready

091816

Life Goes On
 

Hydroponics have gone Precambrian,

olive green cyanobacteria

coat the trays where tomatoes

and beans once grew,

and there's something ediacaran

about the thin flat worms

peristaltically climbing

the pitted walls.

Blue Star by morning,

red star at dusk,

the ship's new ecology,

metazoan free,

eats the controls,

and does not wonder.

Citizen scientists protect big cats

https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/panthera-research/camera-catalogue?utm_source=NNewsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=CCatLaunch

There is the link. In general, a web portal called Zooniverse can hook you up with all kinds of opportunities to help scientists study wildlife. They all involve looking at photographs taken out in the field, places ranging from the bottom of the sea to the African savanna, and describing what you see. It is easy; I was amazed at how quickly I became proficient at recognizing a wide variety of African mammals using the Snapshot Serengeti site.

This link is for a new program looking for big cats in the wild. I can hardly wait to check it out.

012916

big fish
in a small pond
last in Jupiter
ate his mate centuries past
peers out at moons, twinkling stars

110714

Not Like Earth


On this world,
the small vertical burrows
aren't made by tidal worms;
the sharp-toothed quandri
dig into muddy lake marges
(there are no reeds);
mouth up, they lunge
at any foot-quake,
feed on the hapless gabaroon,
but deal a nasty bite to us.
There is no “barefoot” here,
why I became a cobbler,
not ecologist.


End of poem

Are you listening, Andy? More ichno-lit!