September 2021
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
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