The Evolution of Peeps

It is really sad when an independent book store closes. It is even sadder when that book store was not just a shop but also a center of local community, a place where people gathered to have coffee, talk, interact with boook authors, take art or yoga classes, participate in theater or children's activities. But the economic downturn is affecting everyone and Market Street Books in Southern Village was forced to close by May 1st.

I went there a couple of times last week, to commiserate with the employees and volunteers who were packing, wondering what the future will bring for them and picked up a couple of free books they were giving away. I also took with me a souvenir - one of the poems written last Easter, during their annual PeepFest. It so happened that the poem I picked, just a piece of typed paper attached to the window with Scotch tape, was written by one of the people who was in the store at the time, helping to pack. I asked her for permission to reproduce the poem online and she said Yes. So here it is, 'The Evolution of Peeps' by Katie Hayes:

Which came first, the egg or the peep?
It's quite a tough question, the answer is deep.
But the end all of answers, between me and you
Is the thing that came first was the pile of goo.

For Peeps evolved on a marshmallow isle
Selected for eons for their daring and guile
And the earliest peeps looked different back then
Like the sabertoothed Peep--which slept in the den!

Or the proud peepadactyls which travaled in flocks
Unlike today's peeps, who travel in box.
They lost their prehensile ears and their beaks
Their penchant for flying, and fondness to screech.

Then they all died away and no one knows why
Some blame an asteroid that fell from the sky.
Or possibly lava, or sulfuric rain
I blame globalized tooth decay!

Bue there are no fossils of ancient peep brethren
Instead there are mountains of hard sugar resin
So we're never allowed to teach it in school
Except as a theory - and not as a rule.