Theory (or The Five Step Argument for Evolution by Natural Selection)

Epochs are quicker than the chance of you loving me.
And yet,
your Anthropology—
your existence finds my relic self (artifacted hope)
with your Hellenic curved lips that unearth me;
unbury me with your science-sculpted mouth.

I. Variation: Individuals in a population differ in characteristics.
(Some are brown, some are blue. Sense is infinite.)

Have you seen my eyes trace the outline of your shape?
How I observe the length of your fingers
and the blueprint of your hands.
I behold the framework of your variety.
Glad of your blend—your hair
(bohemian on your head)
the color of sand and wood and bread.
Your Y chromosome taste—vintage sweet port,
drip to my festive vessel tongue.
O delicious little synthesis of want.

II. Inheritance: This variation is passed from parent to offspring.
(It takes time and Sex; love and luck take care of the rest.)

You—descendant of dirt, cells, the color red.
Earth strata brilliance,
time temple of heritage.
Thousands of years and days and weeks.
Neolithic minutes.
Dinosaur religion, orgasm Geography,
Glaciers of Sex, bedroom Geology—
evolution you to me.
Blow lava, flow sand and rock.

III. Competition Caused by Excess Reproduction: Organisms have the capacity to produce far more offspring than can actually survive.
(There is competition for resources just as there is for your touch.)

There is more want in the marrow of my skin
for your chance look than time has life.
I’m not as perfect as the rest—
I have only my words, my art,
my tongue as dowry.
The philosophy of my Willendorf breasts,
the ochre of my heart,
the crop of my legs,
the water of my touch,
the shore of my womb my oblation.

IV. Differential Reproductive Success: Because there is variation (Step I) and competition (Step III), some variants will produce more successful offspring.
(Have I been blessed by my own blend; inherited a chance?)

I mind map your genes with mine
like a school girl sketching flowers
in the letters of your name in margins,
and note the possibilities of our touch
(replicated sugar lust, infinite combinations of
our limb percussion, hair collision)
and reproduce ourselves into trees of heredity,
as your voice embeds
itself into my soul DNA
and wraps around my name.

V. Evolution: With differential survival (Step IV) and inheritance (Step II) there will be a change in the genetic composition of a population over time.
(Dare I suggest?)

I dare to “disturb the universe”
with my experiment, by writing this.
Let’s dance the mix of your hair with my skin.
Tangle my laugh with your careful step.
Imagine the color of eyes we might create,
the bend of limbs
careful in my womb.
Your smile with my sense.
Your y with my x.

Theory: That which has not been disproved; a set of statements to explain fact or phenomena.

It is your very moment in time,
your perfect life,
your feet of desert,
your blood of atoms and Apollo lips,
that teaches me devotion, evolution—
I call on Science,
Poets, any Oracle or Mother God(s),
whatever will work to tell you
this simple fact,
replicated over and over in my heart—
natural selection be damned
chance or not:

I love you.

Kellie Raines 2006