by Kevin T McEneaney
Neanderthals finger-painted in caves
lit by fire, using various plant dyes
for clothes: black, red, pink, or shades of ochre.
Jewelry was made of shell, bone, or stone.
Their black-dot markings might be numbering
of days, a simple counting procedure.
They traveled coastline in small wooden boats.
If there was a living Neanderthal,
and I could communicate with him/her,
I would show them Juan Miro’s painting
Houseboat with encircle ring black dots
(asymmetrical yet balanced to eye),
and try to explain flight from the Nazis
to Spain, homeland of the Neanderthals.
