#85 Op. posth. no. 8

http://allpoetry.com/Dream-Song-85:-Op.-posth.-no.-8

Geez, Henry is down in his grave just—rotting. It’s quite extraordinary, and funny. Of course, it’s all a dream. I remember reading John Updike’s poem, “Ode to Rot,” when it came out in The Atlantic Monthly in 1985 when I was a literature undergrad, thinking that, yes, we absolutely do need more poetry about biological processes. This was a moment that drew literature and biology together for me, and I’ve kept the two close. I probably wasn’t counting on “Ode to Excrement,” but sure, I’m good with that, and given that one, you just know there has to be an “Ode on Urination.” The “Ode to Masturbation” reminds me that pretty much anything goes in art these days. We’re bodies too, and that means excreting, masturbating and eventually rotting get their moment’s in art’s spotlight. I have to confess that “Ode on Periods” pushes me a bit past my comfort zone, so I’ll abandon this avenue of discourse and head back toward the Earth and the dirt where I’m more at ease.

 

Gardening

There are more creatures

In a handful of soil
Than all the humans who have ever lived.
Here’s a Ceasar, that one’s a Shakespeare
Harriet Tubman and Beyoncé
Pantheons of saints and infamy
In the grit under your fingernails.

They live with you, in you

On the ground of your hands
Ground in the cuts on the skin
Of your knees, gritty
On the lettuce in your salad
That doesn’t wash away.

And why wash it away?

Mycobacterium vaccae
Teems over carrot roots
Pulsates in crowds in the eyes
Of your potatoes—
Swims in your blood.

Sends cascades of choline

Through the labyrinth
Of your microchemistry,
Through your muscles,
The fat you wish would subside
From your waist and thighs
Cell by cell by cell.
Washing your brain

In suds of seratonin.

Ah—seratonin:

            Your garden is a lovely place

            Reflects the sun’s didactic face
            Rears your work in mounds of dirt
            Turns to food without a hurt
            Taters carrots lima beans
            Varied, tasty salad greens
            All the food you care to eat
            Every growing greeny treat!

Food the legacy of dirt,

Bacteria’s artistry,
Sustenance of the sun,
Brotherhood’s ancient fullness,
Kin of the crowded soil.

KZ