Episode 078 Ontology and the Platypus - Kathy Fagan

Connor and Jack dive into a funny poem with serious depths, Kathy Fagan's Ontology and the Platypus. They discuss the evolutionary wonder that is the platypus, taking humor seriously, Yeats' wild theories about history, and much more!

You can find Kathy Fagan's latest book, Sycamore, here: milkweed.org/book/sycamore

Ontology and the Platypus
By: Kathy Fagan

So which mammalian fuck-up list produced
the platypus, produced the bird-billed, flat-foot, erstwhile
beavers dressed like ducks for Halloween?
Crepuscular and nipple-less,
they suckle hatchlings in the changeling dusk—

Diaphanously the god-swan boned
a married chick and she begot two eggs,
neither good. The launching of a thousand ships ensued.
Homer never saw a platypus,
though in his dreams he may have heard them growl,
a noise between a gurgle and a hiss.
The males are venomous. A plural
form of platypus does not exist.