if the four billion years
that make up this planet’s life
were imagined
as a twenty four hour span
and humans were juxtaposed
on this projected span of time
after all of our
two hundred thousand years alive
would exist for only a mere
three seconds
in this daylong lifespan
of the earth
three seconds
is barely anything at all
it has taken more than
three seconds
for you to read
up to this point in the poem
we are just a blip
in the scope
of this massive spinning thing
our individual lives
just a blip on a blip
yet in those three relative seconds
we have destroyed so much
we’ve massacred
the other proto humans
made extinct the mammoth
the saber tooth
the giant sloth
we’ve warred with and ruined
as many civilizations
as we’ve built
we’ve spent our time
building weapons
that grow only more sinister
and destructive with time
weapons strong enough
to blow this planet
into space flung gravel
a thousand times over
we’ve made a system of living
that has bludgeoned
this once flourishing world
of wide rivers
and green mountains
into stretches of concrete
and micro plastic rain
we often wonder
what our purpose here is
but if you look at all we have done
in our splinter of a history
there is no question at all

Alexander Shalom Joseph is an award winning poet, writer and playwright from Gilpin County, and is the author of seven published books. You can find his work and more information about him at www.alexandershalomjoseph.com.