Ever since

Ever since that first cave man

or cave woman (more than likely)

carved an image she had seen

onto a cave wall

with a sharp-cornered rock –

And ever since that first cave woman

(not even going there this time)

translated an internal feeling

or a knowing

into a grunt or a moan (a word)

and gave birth to a new technology

of human expression –

And ever since the tool

and the technology

came together, converged

in a new mental space

by a superior intellect

(already among us)

to point out to us

the direction for our deliverance

from total triple darkness –

Ever since –

we have been beating

a slow retreat,

back into the shadows,

back into the thoughtless void –

But there are those among us

who just won’t tolerate

the backslide:

They are called poets. 

Poetry is their name.