LORA KELLER
  • Home
  • Poetry
  • Visual Art
  • Blog
  • Bio
  • Contact

Invisible Germs

3/2/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
 
I’m a geek for microbes so I’m devouring this book. Here are some of Ed Yong’s delicious words.    
 
“Through microbes we find unity with our fellow creatures, despite our incredibly different lives. None of those lives is lived in isolation; they always exist in a microbial context, and involve constant negotiations between species large and small… In fact, we are legion, each and every one of us. Always a ‘we’ and never a ‘me.’ Forget Orson Welles, and heed Walt Whitman: ‘I am large, I contain multitudes.’”
 
And here’s a poem I wrote a couple years ago. Geek. Geek.
 
 Seeding Art
 
To map the microorganisms living in New York City's subway, researchers swabbed turnstiles, handrails, doors and poles and then classified each sample. They found genetic material from thousands of species, many unclassified. No two subway stations were exactly the same. “The bottom of a person’s shoe might represent the 'genetic history' of that person’s daily or weekly travels.” -- Cell Systems
 
Invisible germs of modern art
breed in each epidermal ridge
and valley of my palms,
 
each rubber groove of my oxblood
Doc Martens as I drift MOMA's
white labyrinth.
 
So when I lumber down
the subway’s concrete steps
blistered with old bubble gum,
  
I seed each silver-toothed turnstile,
each elbowed handrail,
with Van Gogh's skies
 
spangled with dandelion stars,
his fields furrowed
with cyprus.
 
I’m a gypsy grizzly bear 
transporting a whole alpine
forest in my scat, my sweat. 
 
Berries clumped
in the ruts of my soles
spurt their ruby ink.
 
No amount of soap
or paint can erase
the crimson tattoos.
 

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Say Something?

    Hi! If you'd like to leave a comment, I'd love to hear from you!

    AND TO AUTOMATICALLY FOLLOW MY BLOG, the RSS feed below will allow you to receive automatic updates if you use a feed reader like feed.ly.

    Archives

    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly