A Missing Link

Cherry

By luigi_pagano

Thu, 14 Feb 2019
  • 3997 reads
14 comments
 

 

I am at the zoo,
vis-a-vis a chimpanzee
and find that we have
something in common:
we both love bananas.
But apart from that
I cannot see how
he is connected to me.

While I can be vocal
he cannot speak;
then consider the hand:
I can be precise
in opposing my thumb
to the forefinger,
an action special to man
- dictated by the brain -
which my simian counterpart
cannot do, as Bronowski
wrote in his book
“The Ascent of Man”.

This furry creature can
look cute and astute
but to my questions
he remains mute.
I asked if we were brothers
or cousins or unrelated
but got no reply.

I still know nothing at all
about my closest extinct
human relative.
Was he a Homo Sapiens,
or a Homo erectus
or a Neanderthal?
I definitely think
that I'm missing a link.

© Luigi Pagano 2019

Certificate U
Poetry Monthly
Mutevoli pensieri
Surreal

Comments

Submitted by Ed Crane on

If you're looking for the missing link maybe you should think Bukowski rather than Bronowski.

Did you know Humans have more or less the same amount of body hairs then Chimps? Our are just smaller (most of us anyway) I think I wrote a poem about that once.

Nice one.

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Thinking of Bukowski didn't help, Ed, but Jacob Bronowski's book was quite informative and relevant. What's more I had a copy on my bookshelf.
The information about hair is new to me and I will store it in mind for future references. I regret that I missed your poem on the matter but if you can find a link to it, I will certainly read it.

Best, Luigi

 

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

I wondered if you might explore something like this, Luigi.

I think everyone, not just you, is missing a link still between the different kinds. No wonder there are similarities if one Creator, but a means to change and create those differences which wouldn't work unless complete eludes more and more just as fossil 'intermediaries' do. As for human/ape/chimp fossils they are proving to be either human (sometimes distorted by rickets or …) or ape, or sometimes a mix of fossils from different organisms (and sometimes faked fossils too!). Actually there is so much new evidence that one wonders whether if he were alive today, Darwin would ever dream of suggesting such a theory!

Rhiannon

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

I am not surprised that you were able to guess my thought process, Rhiannon, knowing my propensity to explore unconventional subjects. This time, though, my choice was fortuitous. While I pondered what I could possibly write on the given theme (Connect) I glanced a volume on my bookshelf entitled "Connections" by James Burke and next to it "The Ascent of Man" by Jacob Bronowski. The latter seemed to offer more scope for a composition and that was the deciding factor.

Luigi x

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

 

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

Did you read about great apes sharing lots of the same gestures we have, Luigi?

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/chimps-and-toddlers-share-same...

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Hello Di. Nice hearing from you.
I am not surprised. While apes and other animals haven't got the power of speech they have their own language with which to communicate among themselves. Some of the gestures they use to attract attention can be similar to human behaviour. There have been several experiments trying to teach chimpanzees human language. The most famous was that conducted on Wahoe.
Washoe was a female common chimpanzee who was the first non-human to learn to communicate using American Sign Language as part of a research experiment on animal language acquisition.

Luigi x

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

My grateful thanks to the editors for the Cherries. yes

 

Submitted by Ed Crane on

Here it is as requested (courtesty of an old memory stick):

Am I My Own Cousin?

I read somewhere that I, a human, have about

the same number of hairs than a Chimpanzee,

but they’re not long and black so they don’t stand out

so it is hard to believe that this can be.

 

In the millions of years that have passed by

we abandoned fur so we could stay cool

under the African Sun – or else we’d fry.

It’s evolution, nature’s natural tool.

 

However, it seems it was not just this case,

a sexy new preference came into play.

Skin increased desire to propagate our race,

bare flesh is the trigger to make someone’s day.

 

We’ve ninety eight point five percent DNA

same as chimps – seems we are a very close mix.

It puzzles me when I’m cold most of the day,

I wonder if I have ninety eight point six

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Thanks for this Ed. Very kind of you to answer so promptly to satisfy my curiosity. I don'r recall having seen it on ABCtales so it is quite possible you didn't post it. I am astonished that two lines in my piece - 'I asked if we were brothers or cousins or unrelated' - echo the title of your poem. Quite a coincidence.

Regards, Luigi

 

 

 

Submitted by Tom Brown on

Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Yes, Tom,  they tend to do that.

 

Submitted by forest_for_ever on

I sometimes wonder who is the smarter,, me or the chimp!  Really well deserved cherry award.

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Ha, ha. laugh Perhaps the chimp is just as puzzled.