Verse-Virtual
  • HOME
  • MASTHEAD
  • ABOUT
  • POEMS AND ARTICLES
  • ARCHIVE
  • SUBMIT
  • SEARCH
  • FACEBOOK
  • EVENTS
September 2021
Michael Minassian
mikialminassian@gmail.com / www.michaelminassian.com
Bio Note: I'm a retired English Professor spending my time writing, taking the occasional photograph, trying to follow the Dharma. My poetry collections A Matter of Timing, Time is Not a River and Morning Calm are all available on Amazon. A chapbook, Jack Pays a Visit, is due in September from Assure Press.

Darwin's Beard

As a young man,
Darwin kept his beard
neatly trimmed, stray hairs
and fingernail clippings
preserved along with
insects and frog legs.
 
After returning
in the HMS Beagle,
he ran out of jars—
fossils and stuffed 
birds kept in rooms 
throughout the house, 
ignoring the complaints
of his wife Emma
and the Anglican Church.
 
All the while his beard
grew whiter and longer—
when he laid down at night
his beard stretched
to the next room
and out the door,
forcing his gardener
to mow lawn and beard
at the same time—
careful not to disturb
the nesting of gulls
or Emma’s bone 
and ivory combs.
 
In dreams he thought
he heard God cough
through His beard—
rimmed by dinosaurs,
doves, fossil wings,
and angels braiding hair.
Originally published in Live Encounters, 2020.
©2021 Michael Minassian
Editor's Note: If this poem(s) moves you please consider writing to the author (email address above) to tell her or him. You might say what it is about the poem that moves you. Writing to the author is what builds the community at Verse Virtual. It is very important. -JL
POEMS AND ARTICLES     ARCHIVE     FACEBOOK GROUPS