(25 July 1956)

poet Diane Hine
What do you think this poem is about?

Cusp

Hunters kill on the veldt,
butcher the carcass, strip red meat and leave.
Scavengers find by sight or smell,
encircling the carrion with teeth or hooked beaks
and claim rights or sneak bites,
but one species tenuously prevails.
They move in, cleave bones, lick marrow and scrape
scraps of fat from hide
with hammerstone sculpted river pebble blades
held in strong-thumbed precision clasps,
two and a half million years past.

Submitted: Thursday, March 07, 2013
Edited: Monday, March 11, 2013

Comments about this poem (Cusp by Diane Hine )

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  • Captain Cur (4/27/2013 6:05:00 AM)

    We are still Neanderthals, we just dress better!
    Great write, I won't mention the wallabies.
    I liked the line, with hammerstone sculpted river pellet blades.
    Rich imagery.

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  • Captain Cur (4/27/2013 6:04:00 AM)

    We are still Neanderthals, we just dress better!
    Great write, I won't mention the wallabies.
    I liked the line, with hammerstone sculpted river pellet blades.
    Rich imagery.

    0 person liked.
    		0 person did not like.
  • Douglas Scotney (3/20/2013 8:41:00 PM)

    strange, it wasn't 'thus spake Zarathustra' that Margaret Throsby played coincidently as I read this, but 'the blue danube' and I saw that space hostess walking around the cylinder.

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  • Anthony Di''anno (3/19/2013 11:44:00 AM)

    And they knew what it was they were eating. Unlike today.
    Another great poem for the pot.

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  • S.zaynub Kamoonpuri (3/17/2013 8:28:00 AM)

    Aha a splendid poem with readers enjoyable scavenging imagery. Kudos!

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  • Veeraiyah Subbulakshmi (3/13/2013 11:07:00 PM)

    Yes, the hunters are too smart to hunt for food, but now hunters wear different hats! Nice to read!

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  • Dinesh Nair (3/12/2013 8:09:00 PM)

    But the earth and its echo systems have been upset by man. The evolution over a few millennia has had the shade of misuse and abuse that man is boasting of.

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  • Thomas A Robinson (3/10/2013 9:44:00 AM)

    Man...not much difference then and now.Except for his ability to now scavenge the whole earth (strip, unearth,
    make bare all earth)

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  • Valsa George (3/10/2013 5:32:00 AM)

    What has been thrown away by some becomes sustenance for another! Over millenniums, for survival, man resorts to more viable techniques! ! That's all! A very imaginative write! !

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  • Valsa George (3/10/2013 5:04:00 AM)

    Through what struggles for existence over milleniums, the modern man has evolved into his present stature! A very imaginative read! !

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Read all 14 comments »

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