Ellen Bass: At the End of the Cenozoic Era

Photo by Molly

At the End of the Cenozoic Era

The elements that compose us―

the particles of our bodies that have circled

since their violent birth the central

axis of the Milky Way weaving

themselves in and out of matter―

now for the first time, we're told,

have emerged in a form

that can contemplate itself.

 

Our 65-million-year moment

has ended ― the age

of mammals and flowering plants

collapsing around us.

An unknown era has begun.

Half the species slated

to perish. All vertebrates

anted up on the green felt

table of the earth.

 

On the radio, a woman's cultured

voice explains that by holding back rivers 

with dams we've altered the speed

of the planet's rotation.

However so slightly, we've shifted

the length of the day.

 

She says without a hint of terror.

That's when I walk outside

to where my son pushes the mower

over the robust weeds.

The down of his lip is darkening

like a late autumn afternoon. Straight on

you can't see it, but from the side 

a shadow gathers.

 

How can I begin 

to grasp it: the Earth

in peril, my son's chest shining

like polished burl. His spine

visible beneath his skin.

The way before he was born,

when he was still

safe in the belly's sheath,

I could feel the exact shape

of his just-formed foot

pressing against the world.

 

― Ellen Bass

From The Human Line