A million years out of the sun,
they found it when the road went through
and recognised the find for what it was
and commemorated with a plaque
to educate the masses on
a minor point of geological truth.
Behold! The anticlinal fold!
A bell curve carved into the earth:
evidence that even rock is never truly still.
Move with the anticlinal fold.
Dance to the anticlinal fold.
Put your hand on it – you can feel it in your bones.
For while the ground beneath our feet
may seem to be a stable thing,
it’s only that our speeds are poles apart.
The question becomes a matter of scale.
How fast is a year? A thousand? Two?
What happens in the time those timespans span?
Forests grow and oceans fade.
Mountains rise and wear away.
Animals and cultures both appear and disappear.
They move with the anticlinal fold.
They dance to the anticlinal fold.
Put your hand on it – you can feel it in your bones.
Inside the earth the pressure bends
and twists the rocks, and sometimes shows
their ever-present, patient geometry.
And as we walk across it all
the planet stretches, shudders, shrugs,
sometimes fast enough to feel – and then
we move with the anticlinal fold.
We dance to the anticlinal fold.
Put your hand on it – you can feel it in your bones
Leave a Reply