Evolutionary Payoff Poem by Denis Mair

(inspired by Bradley Delany's photographs*)
... ... ... ... ...
eyes practically hanging out of my head
for the patterns that just don't stop
signs of plant communities jump out
a library of forms in the brain cues a forager
look for near-symbionts in the vicinity
for the cross hatch that departs from the pattern
maybe a pointer to a berry-bearing branch...
now the forager is provided for by his conspecifics
fellow species members combing the land methodically
deliveries rescue him... routines of food logistics free him
now his foraging eyes are unleashed
able to look at Nature's patterns as creation
seek them in a frame to invest feelings in them
notice their affinities and histories
sum up meta-patterns in reflection
read traces in vortices to remember carnage
or learn the craft to tie a dream-catcher's strands...
now pattern recognition has its payoff of abundance
now is the aesthetic harvest for the eyes of the species
now stargazing is amplified to observatories and networks
the infrastructure is running ahead of the makers
the creature inside the carapace needs to grow larger
the person needs to fill in his own macranthropic outline...
now is the evolutionary payoff