Peeling Potatoes

PEELING POTATOES (QUANTUM SONG)
……………………………………………………………………………………………Inspired by Ani DiFranco’s “The Atom”
I’m already enjoying these potatoes
And I’m still only preparing them

As I listen to Stockhausen
Scrape the knife against the surface
In contact
The moment poised
The universe, breath held
And each tiny epiphenomenon
With a full dance card
A winsome smile
And a secret dream of consummation
After the ball

A moment poised
Echoing off down the ages
With a come hither eyelash
And little in mind but to shimmer without resolution
As the unspoken exclamation shifts
From “what a phenomenon!”
To “what a sensation!”
While with a flick of the wrist
And a slip of the lip
The magician in you melts away

Ach, these twice blind wallflowers
Rather than ever dip their toe in the glass
They declare it divine
Or mundane
Each way certainty of losing their birthright
By giving themselves airs
And distancing themselves
From the humble potato
With their taxonomy and understanding
Their cluttered appendices and flaccid hearts

A fool’s wager, to be sure
If I should back science or evolution
To play the golden calf
Though God knows when Moses will ever reappear
From up that blessed mountain
Or whether anyone will hear him
When he says there’s more
To these potato chappies than you think
Though never of course
More than you imagine

But now let me slip the little beauties into the pan
I haven’t even started to enjoy them yet