Palaeopoems is a project that brings together the world’s palaeontology poetry in one place for the first time. We seek out poetry by real palaeontologists and share them with short biographies of the authors, natural history context, and original artwork.
Oldhamia antiqua – by John Joly
This poem is about a type of trace fossil from the Cambrian, and dramatically muses on how fossils must feel about deep time.
Guest artwork by Brigid Christison.
Oldhamia antiqua - by John Joly This poem is about a type of trace fossil from the Cambrian, and dramatically muses on how fossils must feel about deep time. Guest artwork by Brigid Christison.
Untitled - by Thomas Chesmer Weston This was the first poem ever found for Palaeopoems. Published in Thomas' 1899 memoirs, it's about one of the earliest fossil-hunting expeditions to western Canada and reflects Victorian ideas about dinosaurs. Guest artwork by Katrin Emery.
The Tilly-bat - by Dr. Glenn Jepsen This poem is unique in that it involves not one by three palaeontologists! Central to the poem is the founder of palaeoneurology and first female president of the Society of Vertebrate Palaeontology, Dr. Tilly Edinger. Possibly the nerdiest of all Palaeopoems, this one summarizes a friendly (and still unresolved) feud about a fossilized braincase and which extinct mammal it may have belonged to. Guest artwork by Greer Stothers.
A Botanical Dream - by Dr. Ellen Marion Delf-Smith 20th century botanist and pioneering woman in science Dr. Marion Delf-Smith uplifted generations of young women to follow in her footsteps... and also dabbled in writing Palaeopoems. Marion wrote "A Botanical Dream" for a women-run botanical comedy magazine in the early 1910s. This post is in honour of her birthday, January 31st, 1883. Guest artwork by John Meszaros.
