BEFORE WORDS

Archaic hominids

had no idea of happiness.

They couldn’t smile or laugh,

and couldn’t imagine

the pleasure of foreplay.

Every female, a flower

waiting to be plucked.

Every man, a hairy beast

in fervent heat.

Instincts ruled with eyes,

ears, and naked genitalia.

Incest, sodomy, matricide,

and patricide were de rigueur.

Life was short and brutal.

Disputes settled

with a club or rock bashed

into a neighbor’s head.

Yanking on a hank of hair

got you a mate in a cave,

tightly bound and kept.

Grunts and roars, burps and farts,

screams, howls and endless tears

was the language of the day.

Kill any animal,

food on a rocky slab.