“Listen, this is a parallel Earth, in another universe; do you get it? Maybe there are hundreds of them, all alike physically but you know, branching off and evolving differently.” —Philip K. Dick, The Crack in Space.
Ever since the crack in space,
we’ve met another human race,
developed in a parallel
dimension, far as we can tell.
Alternative as his’tries can
be theorized, another man
evolved out of our primate past —
a chap with a Cro-Magnum cast.
We call them Chuppers due to their
jawbones and teeth, which came out square,
and, then, behold their ridged foreheads
which are quite crude for most bipeds.
They drag their knuckles and their feet
and never cook the grub they eat;
they whittle and build tools from stone,
and make fart jokes, although full-grown.
And, yes, it’s true they lived in caves —
consider all the rent that saves;
they married their own sisters, and
cared not to have their fam’lies planned.
Supposedly, they are quite smart
depending how you grade the chart;
assimilating them will not
be fun, ‘cause nothing sticks we taught.
This chupper was the friendly sort
although quite hairy, tense and short;
he was a little nervous when
expected to count up to ten.
The life he had was rather crude
with genitals that did protrude;
he mainly ate and slept and screwed
and had no potty when he pooed.
We take for granted jutting chins
because we’re Homo Sapiens;
we’re glad that we’re not a throw-back
with our brains in a gonad sack.
“A radiation-spawned race, Nat thought. The chuppers of North California. Their enclave lay here. He wondered how many of them there were. Ten? Ten thousand? These were people, despite their malformity. They received mail, probably had little jobs or tasks, perhaps lived on county relief if they couldn't work. They were bothering no one and certainly they were harmless. He felt discouraged at his own reaction – his initial instinctive aversion.” —Philip K. Dick, The Simulacrum.
Text, narration, editing & production © 2020 C. Kurtz.