Prehistoric Prayer

By Petra Kuppers

Mouth of cave                 oldsea              hemoglobin runs

Iron mine                       deepred           astronomer reaches

Sedimentary process     greenblood      microscope spins

Rock layers                    touchwater       fly and fly and

Burrow beneath             earthsilver        cartwheel beyond

Moon dark soar              riverblack         rinse me here, bless

Open, oh open                starsky             melt down glacier, pool

Harden, tight, clasp      bluemetal         air escapes

To calm                          whiteair            to alien mountain

Petra Kuppers is a German disability culture activist and a community performance artist who uses somatics, performance, media, and speculative poetry to engage audiences toward more socially just and enjoyable futures. Her third performance poetry collection, Gut Botany, won the 2022 Creative Book Award by the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment. Her Diver Beneath the Street (2024) investigates true crime and ecopoetry at the level of the soil.