Now, we could add a footnote of our own
about why I’m behaving like a bird,
were we that line of thinking to condone,
which isn’t likely—none but Esther heard.
And even if she had not done the crime,
who would have listened? Who’d have understood?
And even if he’d said it in our time,
would more exposure have done any good?
No, Ciral’s thesis would not have survived.
As anyone can see, it can’t be true.
Our values are objectively derived.
At least I’m sure that mine are. How ’bout you?
But it was not subjected to the Gong.
Yes, that’s the part of this that makes me frown.
’Twas never tried and proven to be wrong.
Nobody got a chance to shoot it down.
The Gong: The Gong Show was a short-lived television talent show spoof (1976-1980), in which judges struck a gong when they disapproved of an act.
©2013 Louis A. Merrimac
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Saturday, June 8, 2013
In the Next Life, Canto IV, stanzas 30-33
So why did Ciral think this must be so?
He’d put his thinking organ through the rack
attempting to explain why people go
to such great lengths to set their egos back.
He’d reckoned that the reason must relate
to some resemblance that our minds infer
between those weaker and those we create.
More helpless entities are needier.
But is that not our wont instinctively?
Why would we need a value to assist
the process that has grown our fam’ly tree?
Big brains should only help. No, there’s a twist.
What he was thinking, then, goes well beyond
the pressure on a woman to conceive.
He thought this led to much of which we’re fond—
quite possibly to all that we believe.
©2013 Louis A. Merrimac
He’d put his thinking organ through the rack
attempting to explain why people go
to such great lengths to set their egos back.
He’d reckoned that the reason must relate
to some resemblance that our minds infer
between those weaker and those we create.
More helpless entities are needier.
But is that not our wont instinctively?
Why would we need a value to assist
the process that has grown our fam’ly tree?
Big brains should only help. No, there’s a twist.
What he was thinking, then, goes well beyond
the pressure on a woman to conceive.
He thought this led to much of which we’re fond—
quite possibly to all that we believe.
©2013 Louis A. Merrimac
Sunday, June 2, 2013
In the Next Life, Canto IV, stanzas 27-29
“There was a break in equilibrium
’tween will to live and willingness to breed
when women figured out whence babies come.
They saw a sign that said ‘Reduce your seed’.
“Self-interest began then to conflict
with that of our creators. One would think
that natural selection would have picked
a brain incapable of such a link.
“But if a woman, knowing this much, could
be taught she ought to make the sacrifice,
she’d have more children than her neighbors would
and pass the lesson to her kids. How nice.”
©2013 Louis A. Merrimac
’tween will to live and willingness to breed
when women figured out whence babies come.
They saw a sign that said ‘Reduce your seed’.
“Self-interest began then to conflict
with that of our creators. One would think
that natural selection would have picked
a brain incapable of such a link.
“But if a woman, knowing this much, could
be taught she ought to make the sacrifice,
she’d have more children than her neighbors would
and pass the lesson to her kids. How nice.”
©2013 Louis A. Merrimac
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
