BOOKISH

I have ordered a book
Called Order out of Chaos*
(A condition greatly to be
Desired in these troubled times).

It purports to explore 
The conundrum
Of Evolution and dares
To question Darwin’s

Thesis of natural selection
Of chance mutations
As a satisfactory explanation 
For The Origin of Species. 

Others have questioned this premise.
In 1982 Rupert Sheldrake wrote
A New Science of Life, which posits
The role of Morphogenic Germs.

(Sheldrake also suggested that 
It was the Scientific Revolution 
That had driven
Angels from the Cosmos…).

Rupert’s son Merlin
Has since written
Of the miracles of
An Entangled Life

In which Earthly beings
Are enmeshed within 
A Maze of unaccounted 
Organisms….

Commingled Life forms
Flourishing because of
Or despite Us
In biotic harmony.

My understanding thus Evolves
One book at a time
Growing evermore distant
From the sureties of Darwin…

And other old ideas learnt
Long ago but now interred
To make room for the New: 
This is The Grace in Aging.**

Ilya Prigogine *

Kathleen Dowling Singh **