THE EVOLUTION OF MAN

can be witnessed
in real time
anytime
your balls
or ovaries
clatter to the tracks
on the NYC subway
or probably
any third rail
artery
in any urban hell
in any town
in any world.
You find yourself
amidst the slithering,
crawling, chirping,
and gurgling
half-demented
Tourette's stoked dreams
of fellow citizens
in our tormented march
from one hole
to another.
No one
is far
from the caves
and Savannah's.

Most of us
are weak
and know
we are weak
and stand
next to
predators.
Anything
can happen:
stabbed
while donating
to a deaf and Jewish
Jesus; pushed
off the edge
while contemplating
suicide; fleeced
while being felt;
hustled
while hustling.

Once,
not too long ago,
we were apes
with clubs.
Now,
we are apes
still, but
with nuclear weapons.

En guard.

Norman Savage
Greenwich Village, 2014