Evolutionary Landscapes

Chris Checkwitch

…what an abyss between the word love and the love which
doesn’t even have a human meaning because—because love
is living matter. Is love living matter?      (Clarice Lispector)

Within us, tissue-
inward, scaling
past cell-size, 

the genome gathers 
its human-span in
breathing helical writhe:

from there we flexibly select 
acidic hymns, ritual
of the enveloped cell-Psalter.

Animate atom-sculptures, quasi-
crystalline, cooperate: 
into lead 

and lag
the text torn open; tuned, 
the fork of replication, sparking 

recruitment of the sculpting scribes—
we, as them, nurture 
our deviations, ornament

the corbel: mosaics adorn 
the spandrels of 
each our own temples. 

There, where
a trace of the doubled whole
doubles with each division:

error, heuristically searching, 
gambles itself downhill 
into the basins’ verdure,

steps to venture 
softer
                 living,
                 love’s success.

The Science

At the scale of an individual organism’s development, one genome is read differently by each cell, “flexibly select[ing]” genes based on their specific contexts. The molecular machinery actively interpreting the genome occasionally makes errors, generating mutations which provide the genetic diversity necessary for natural selection to act on a population. One such error, known as a “whole genome duplication event,” is a major source of evolutionary novelty, allowing genes to mutate while a second copy remains functional. The closing image of a landscape refers both to species’ environments and to the mathematical concept of energy and fitness “landscapes” used to model complex processes in the life sciences.

The Poet

Chris Checkwitch is a Canadian poet residing on unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations territory. Born in Calgary, he graduated from the University of Victoria with majors in English and molecular biology. His work has been published in The Maynard and can be found on Instagram at @it.tends.2.the.garden. He cooks for a living.

Next poem: Fire Anthology by Christy Draper