(For Day 9 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a rhyming poem with varying line lengths, so I thought exploring time might be a good theme.)

The stone on which the house in which the chair in which I sit
Has witnessed quite a bit.
While flesh is quick to disappear,
The bedrock lives in centuries;
It waits for ice to yield to sea to yield to continental sheer
And waits for errant meteors or yet another global freeze,
Eroding into dust and grit,
Chipped and thawed and trod and split,
Ground and pressed and layered deep and never asking “what’s the year?”
Giving purchase to the dirt, the firm foundation of the trees,
Until at last, I came to rest
Here.
____________________

MPA rating: PG-13

I love the idea of 65 more than I do 65 itself. I can absolutely picture the pitch meeting for the concept of aliens stumbling upon Earth in prehistoric times and being met by a dinosaur-filled death trap in the same way humans imagine inhospitable exoplanets. But it’s all in the execution, and 65 (named for the number of millions of years ago) somehow makes that thrilling notion feel ho-hum.

Adam Driver is serviceable as the main character Mills, a grieving father who left his sick daughter to pilot a space expedition, only for the ship to crash-land with only him and a young girl (Ariana Greenblatt) surviving. What follows is rather paint-by-numbers as they fight or evade dinosaurs and grow closer in their shared loss. There’s nothing particularly wrong with the plot or effects-heavy action, and it makes for a decent watch; it just never rises above a slightly futuristic Jurassic Park knock-off. Maybe films like Jurassic Park or King Kong have simply made dinosaurs less scary than they should be, at least when viewed from the comfort of our living rooms.

Best line: (Nevine, Mills’ daughter) “I know that you’re leaving. And I know it’s because of me.” (Mills) “No. It’s not because of you, it’s for you.”

Rank: Honorable Mention

© 2025 S.G. Liput
805 Followers and Counting