020521c

 

Stalked by the celeroids, Dr. Frankenveg quickly came to rue his latest gene-manipulation experiment.

021520b

the zebroids
bad-tempered as their dumb cousins
but man, those stripes

121918

so many species
of cardinals look alike
bird feeder red flash

012417b

On this planet,
every cell has four chromosomes
evolution: extraordinarily rapid
but inaccurate
hoo boy!
One time, a baby was born
with only two arms and legs!

110216b

Puzzling out the genetic code


Denizens of this world
are built by two completely different molecular systems
either one or the other
except for some of the small ones
on earth, we'd call them bacteria
some of these use both systems
we've found no ruins
but I have to wonder
has this planet been colonized before?

091816c

Excess Baggage

Once our genes were our own,

or we were theirs,

horses they selfishly rode

into a Mendelian future,

but centuries ago we learned

the truth: the so-called human genome

was 90% bacterial. Who knew

we were carrying hitchhikers

in such intimate places?

When we reached 95%

it was time to do something.

Some of that stuff

was not pulling its weight, not

facilitating gene propagation --

actually it was slowing us down,

doing things we didn't need,

or doing nothing at all. So we

jettisoned that worthless 5%,

co-opted and improved

an inefficient metabolism

(we already catalyzed

many of its essential functions),

took over the remaining organ systems

(basically, we cut out the middleman),

and now we are really going places!

Strange Horizons Dec 20, 2004

021916c

Poultry Planet

A global monarchy
King of the hill
Ruffle his feathers at your peril
The mammals had their paltry time
A few million years, really
The dinos are roaring back
Second coming, some say
But they've deployed a ring of armed satellites facing out
No more surprise bolides
Thank you very much
And they are modifying their own genomes
Bringing teeth back
By popular demand

101814

Got Her A Good Job, Too


Terri's project won top honors
in the station's science fair,
beating out cold-fusion cooking
and faster-than-fugue inductive learning;
the parthenogenetic hamsters
did have a bit of croc blood in them,
hence the scales,
aquatic habit,
love of fish (raw and wriggling)
size (large), temper (short),
catholic taste in snack food,
remarkably hard teeth,
and powerful tails,
but it was their fecundity
that got her in trouble,
that, and a few might have gotten away
a little bit.

But then, Crocamster™-pelt handbags
swept the province,
she sold the patent to a big Mars-based designer,
and Terri had plenty of cash
to pay for all the damage
and the evacuation.

102613

we find gene shreds
these rocks say here was life
but give no likeness
tall horned or purple maybe
like random letters from a book