Devony Hof
When travelling to past primeval times,
I took my cups of coffee, advil too,
And when I heard the clock’s insistent chimes,
I grasped its hands and let them pull me through;
I’d come to gas-blown, burning, cracking skies,
A gauze of adolescent stars by night.
I followed strings of reddish butterflies,
Consumed a lemon buttered ammonite.
I searched for living fossils that might solve
My world, I thought within their walking bones,
They knew of earths which tipsily revolve,
But I just found old capsules under stones.
I took those back, my footprints too, returned
A little less myself, a time unlearned.
When asked about the inspiration for this piece, Devony said, “In the wake of the pandemic and worsening California wildfires, I sometimes wonder how far back one would have to go to fix climate change and our current situation. This poem deals with that desire to return to a time uncomplicated by human civilization, but ultimately ends with having to return to the present and solve the problem in the now. I wanted to write this idea in the form of a sonnet because it is an older form and gives a sense of turning back the clock.
