Rich Soil Someday

Sugar is not a vegetable, wrote Gertrude

Stein, who was determined to tell the hard truth.

It shows that there is no mistake. And, indeed

It’s difficult to prove she ever made one.

We would love to be that immune to reproof,

But in this discursive absence where we risk

Discovery, we have substituted lack

Of charm for indecipherability.

A quiet lack of charm, of concrete details,

Of hurt-filled memories, personality,

Stirring courage, or lively gossip, all these

Keep us raw, vegetables, low in sugar,

Low in umami, rotting slowly below

Your line of sight, here at the back of the fridge,

Where we eagerly await the compost heap.