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dislocated carrots

by Sheree Mack

x magazine.

December 2004

(commissioned piece for this year’s National Poetry Day and the Literary and  Philosophical Society’s Feast of Poetry event, 7 October 2004)


   here and there
   then and now


   plough the fields                   and            scatter
   the                     good           seeds                         on    the       land


                                           good seeds and bad
   get some in               every bag
                                   packet or
                                                   pocket


   then                                   scatter into the ground
   putting
     down 
     their
     roots


   rootedness
   the foundation of identity


   sown seeds
   in the same place
   are    seldom    the
             same
     soils, winds , pests
         play upon the stage called life
   to create variety


   young
   sweet
   and
   fresh


   twisted
   earthy
   and
   bitter

   related through their orangeness and roots

   here and there
   then and now

  leaves turn russet and
  swirl                in the                    wind

   carrots   uprooted
   packaged
   boil, squash, mash to a pulp
   hardly recognisable

   no                                    crunch

   a lost connection


   consumed without thought
   then
   wasted


   in time
   digested
   back
   into
   the
   soil
   work
   their
   way
   back
   to
   their
   roots
   and
   rest


   here and there
   then and now

Updated: 08/09/2006

Sheree image © Sheree Mack. Text and images © Sheree Mack 2004