Poems and Thoughts    by Frank Maurer

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My Neanderthal Kindred. While reading 'Kindred' by R. Sykes, I felt very close to my Neanderthal cousins. She relates the anthropologic reality of our past fellow Homos. I began to fantasize what I, as an early hominid, Would feel upon meeting my first Neanderthal people, As I, much later in time, migrated out of Africa. These were heavy-boned beings, hirsute, but upright as I. My relative hirsutelessness and lighter skin, contrasted me From these other fellow hominins. Would I have been afraid, alarmed, or felt a curiosity in a similar creature? Our communication or language would have undoubtedly been 'foreign'. But our stone abilities and methods would have been similar-- Both of us have learned 'developed' stone knapping over many eons. Both of us hunted and chewed the skins for softening in a similar manner. Both of us had art and perhaps felt the same about caves. Would we have been attracted sexually To someone who was exotically different? We know now from the DNA evidence That there were a few who overlooked the differences And left the fascinating DNA trail we witness today. All I know is that 4 percent of my ancestral past Overcame prejudice and dislike to form a 'romantic?' bond. Frank Maurer 16 November 2024 1700 Hours.