Accidents

On the one trillion, four hundred
and twenty billionth day

on planet Earth, at three o'clock

on a sunny Tuesday afternoon,

eight out of ten plants and creatures

began to die.

I say Tuesday somewhat arbitrarily,

because the days of the week

had yet to be named,

so my naming is as valid

as anyone else's.

Anyway, on that Tuesday afternoon,

the comet Chicxulub,

slammed into the Yucatan

not far from the present day
city of Merida.

No creature larger

than fifty five pounds

survived the cataclysm.

Except for leatherback turtles,

sharks, and crocodiles.

Twenty four billion days later,

an apple fell on Isaac Newton's head

and he hypothesized

that all the bodies in the universe

are attracted to each other.

He called it the law of gravity,

which some physicists say

is the fundamental principle

that underlies the universe,

Galaxies, stars and planets,

the comet that struck the earth,

the apple that clobbered

Isaac's head, Johnny seeks Sally?

Freud said there are no accidents.

I suppose that hypothetically

you could trace a chain of causation

for everything that has ever happened

since this world and this cosmos
exploded from a single point.

The hurricane spawned

by a butterfly flapping it's wings

kind of thing.

And that would answer

the question of how,

but leave the bigger one

unanswered -why?

Some would claim

there is no why.

-and others say

that God moves

in mysterious ways.

And I might say 

that if hydrogen

didn't love oxygen, 

we wouldn't have water.

Freud also said,

"Everywhere I go I find

a poet has been there

before me."

This morning I saw an ancient

Ford Galaxie convertible

with one functioning tail light

and a drooping muffler.

Looked like it had been

in some kind of accident.