Poem: A Theory’s Evolution

The Theory of Flawed Design is not a scientifically proven

Alternative to evolution. It is based on the everyday life

Experience that natural selection could not have produced

Such a catastrophic outcome. Optimists and the religiously

Inclined will naturally prefer evolution as an explanation,

Since ascribing Design to the state of humanity is almost

Unbearable. For the rest of us, we must continue to insist

That the Theory of Flawed Design be taught cheek and jowl,

Neck and neck, mano a mano, with Mr. Darwin’s

Speculations. The Theory postulates a creator who is Mentally

Impaired, either through some genetic defect or because of

Substance abuse, and is predisposed to behave in a sociopathic

Manner; although some Benign Flawed Design theorists, as

They call themselves, posit the radical alternative that the

Creator was distracted or inattentive and the flaws are not the

Result of Malevolent Will but incompetence or incapacity.

From “Recalculating” (University of Chicago Press, 2013)

Charles Bernstein is author of “Recalculating “(University of Chicago Press, 2013), “Attack of the Difficult Poems: Essays and Inventions” (Chicago, 2011) and “All the Whiskey in Heaven: Selected Poems” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010).