History of Truths, KG Newman

Judith Nelson, Corded Couche, 2001, 30X36


History of Truths

 

There was once a coastal backwater
where this Kansas cow pasture is today

is the first stanza of Saturday’s musing
at the packed nature and science museum.

It’s startling how even in the crowd
a quiet infiltrates the ears to turn

my baobab upside down, which is
actually right side up. It’s in this state­—

with monkey bread severed from
millennial branches and the K-T boundaries

of my life in exhibits all around (i.e., pipe
tomahawk rusted with resin and blood)—

that the fantasy of jackalopes truly
hits home, like the closed door of finally

knowing whether we’re alone
in this universe or not—it’s part

euphoria, a little uneasiness, but mostly
a whist for this place to be a sea again.

__________________
KG Newman

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