Deep Time
In the nuclear twilight
the animals, the plants
and the minerals of the earth
have acquired unparalleled powers
many times greater than those of humans.
Eras elapse:
Cactaceacene
Birguscene
Limulidacene.
The colors bleed out of things
and glob together in the sand
which radiates with increasing intensity
and soaring saturation
and all the markets
that have piled up
haphazardly over the centuries
collapse one by one
until the whole
ramshackle structure
comes down
and forms a hard, geometric puddle
of dead currency
teeming with animals.
New organisms spring up everywhere
in an explosion of life
of Cambrian proportions.
On an ancient island
of plastic
polystyrene mosses multiply
in the shadow
of venerable, old polystyrene trees.
Here live the spirits of mankind.
by Dominique De Groen
from Poetry International, 2018
© Translation: 2018, Jonathan William Beaton