An awkward song draft from the Caliche Poems

The Vertebrate Shuffle: or Mule Grinder’s Song

out on the Llano

short faced Arctodos simus

great shelled Geochelone

and teated Adelobasileus cromptoni

are doing it

Dicynodants and Aetosaurs

dancing in our dreams

Xenacanthus moorai — Leptostyrax macrorhiza

didn’t have’em and couldn’t do it

Creccoides osbornii

had ‘em but didn’t

while Capromeryx minimus was dainty

and good at it

the vertebrate shuffle

all the kids are doin’ it

all over the Llano

from the Pliocene to the Triassic

from the Cretaceous to the Pleistocene

come on now and do the shuffle

Borophages diversidens — Colognathus obscuras

Paleorhinus scurriensis — Tecovasuchus chaterjeei

Malerisaurus longstoni — Leptosuchus crosbiensis

sediment n’ effluvium

all softly fossilized

Paleorhinus bransoni — Koskinonodon prefectus

Rileymilleru cosgriffi — Rutiodon megalodon

Trilophosaurus buettneri — Latiscopus disjunctus

all hoofing the shuffle

Turseodus dolorensis — Hemicalypterus

don’t got ‘em and don’t do it

Canis lepophagus

crepuscular or not

ate what it wanted

while squadrons of Platygonus bicalcaratus

did it in the brush

the vertebrate shuffle

all the kids are doin’ it

all over the Llano

from Muleshoe to Slaton

from Hale Center to Slide

come on now and do the shuffle

Palo Duro Canyon

Adobe Walls

Quita Que

White River

the Little Tule

Llano Dogtown Fork

it’s gonna be a vertebrate party tonight

Pachygenelus milleri

Adelobasileus cromptoni

Colognathus obscurus

Libognathus sheddi

Malerisaurus langstini

they are all vertebrates

and they’re doing it in Texas