what how

My ancestors

crawled out of the ocean 
weathered catastrophic asteroid collisions 
buried themselves underground during the ice ages 
almost starved to death during countless famines
so that they could labor long hours in factories
so that I, their progeny, one day, laying in bed 
might turn my every wayward thought into a poem
about them.
why who

the world's shortest poem is a dot
. but, only and only if it is not