© 2001 Stanley Morrison - All Rights Reserved

Anachronsim
Keith Allen Daniels
(1956-2001)

A mammoth, frozen
in Siberian tundra
for twice 10,000 years

is exhumed at last.
embedded in the right tusk:
a tracking device

-- Keith Allen Daniels

Comments

I discovered the above poem in the May 2002 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction and felt it perfectly captured the essence of Andy's Anachronisms. My discovery was bitter-sweet since on the same page I read Keith's obituary. A talented poet Keith had published several collected works which are available from Anamnesis Press.

I was so moved by Anachronism that I wrote Keith's wife Toni, to obtain permission to reprint the poem here.

My thanks to Toni for allowing me to share Keith's work with you.

On a strange tangent, I recently had the opportunity to watch a Discovery Channel documentary called Raising the Mammoth which focused on French scientist Bernard Buigues' efforts to unearth a nearly intact mammoth in the Siberian wilderness. The Jarkov Mammoth as it became known took several years to excavate.

A fascinating documentary and very likely Keith's inpsiration for Anachronism.

In putting together this review I was searching for the perfect image of wooly mammoth to illustrate Keith's poem. I saw a number of artists representations of the prehistoric beast, but I was immediately drawn to artist Stanley Morrison's work. Stan's ghostly painting of the mammoth is done on scratchboard which is a unique process of removing the black coating to reveal the white layer underneath. My thanks to Stan for allowing me to use his artwork in this context. You can check out Stan's award winning artwork at his website Fantasy Artist Stanley Morrison.

 

Related Links:
SFWA Obituary for Keith Allen Daniels

Anamnesis Press

A Review of "Raising the Mammoth" documentary

Article from Popular Mechanics - "Cloning a Mammoth"

Fantasy Artist - Stanley Morrison

Posted: 2003-01-29


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