Diplodocus, recited by Ashley Gérardy
Oh! Thou imbecile reptile Diplodocus!
Whoever created so odd a cuss?
With a tail like a neck,
And a neck like a tail—
I wonder, by heck,
If you ever do fail
To remember your ends,
And when danger impends
Do stand still, which is bad, or, still more, run tail first,
Or indeed run both ways, which is rather the worst!
(The irregularity of the meter is nothing compared to the irregularity of the critter himself—I ask you!)
George Gaylord Simpson, in a letter to his mother, 1927
Nancy P. Morris was well-known by her friends and colleagues for her scientific poetry, but almost none was published! The Piltdown Story is one of two poems featured in the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology news bulletin from 1955. We don’t know if she submitted her poems to be published or if they were submitted on her behalf.
This poem was wri
This poem was written by Nancy P. Morris, but since we've already written about her, we decided to talk about the Piltdown Man hoax instead.
Poem source:
More on the Piltdown Man
