for Nicole, who was in a dinosaur book, and Jason, 
who would like to be
 
Dinosaur fever—they all get it, 
Kindergarteners of either sex. 
It’ll drive you crazy if you let it— 
Facts on Tyrannosaurus rex, 

Triceratops, Iguanodon, 
Stegosaurus, always a classic;
You must become an expert on
All things Cretaceous and Jurassic.
 
Tots tell you what things mean in Greek, 
In tones superior and mammalian;
It seems they only just learned to speak 
And now they speak sesquipedalian. 

I’m not talking Barney, all goofy and purple, 
Chubby and bouncy and eager for school, 
But great scaly reptiles that bellow and hirple, 
A jawful of daggers and bloody drool. 

They’re better than dragons and Fabulous Creatures: 
Maybe a factor of their appeal
Is even the kindergarten teachers
Won’t deny the brutes were real. 

Kids like their titanomachies gory, 
Giants hurtling toward disaster, 
Extinction as Grimm bedtime story, 
Life getting smaller, smarter, faster... 

It’s only a phase, this fad for fossil:
Soon kids evolve to another stage
(Barbie or Spiderman, hardly colossal). 
Does something dawn on them at this age, 

Some sudden awareness of time unsung, 
Aeons when monsters stalked the earth; 
How once even their parents were young 
In that vast prehistory to their birth?