Tanis, Emerged

Karen Warinsky

Late morning, 
moving slow across the land
eating the grasses, the leaves,
long necks stretching lazily;
suddenly a shower of sparks from the sky,
seiche from the interior sea,
Chicxulub’s shock wave rushed them,
sweeping them up,
these lumbering dinosaurs,
encasing their bones in the disturbed soil,
aftermath of the impact before humans appeared.

Scientists still dig, debate:
Meteor or comet?

They scrutinize bits of once vaporized rock
splashed into that prehistoric air,
cooled into tiny glass spheres,
buried with the bones.
66 million years morphed the landscape, 
yet some debris sleeps on in occluded amber.

Tanis, they call the site,
named for the lost Egyptian city
buried in sand, then found.
Temple of Amun, Temple of Horus,
peaceful chambers rising again,
emerging like treasure,
completing history.

The Science

Scientists are analysing bits of debris encased in amber they believe is from the impactor that killed the dinosaurs. This is taking place in North Dakota, a site that is rich in fossilised bones. The debate is still whether it was a comet or an asteroid that hit the earth in Mexico, 66 million years ago – causing a type of tsunami that shot through what was then an inland sea in North America, wiping these creatures out. The site is named for an ancient, once lost Egyptian city, Tanis. As fossils continue to emerge in the Dakotas, so do treasures in Egypt.

The Poet

Karen Warinsky is a retired reporter/high school English teacher living in Connecticut. She has published poetry since 2011 and is a former finalist of the Montreal International Poetry Contest. Her debut collection Gold in Autumn was released in 2020, and her new book Sunrise Ruby will be out in 2022 (both from Human Error Publishing). She kayaks in the fair weather and organises poetry readings in her area. Find her at karenwarinskypoetry.wordpress.com or on Twitter @KWarinsky.

Next poem: The Bear's Den by Linsey Duncan