The Growing of Rice

In Da Nang, Hue, Long Binh,
flooded paddies are green lakes,
opaque windows
set in mullions of loam.

Delta soil, lacking minerals,
needs a marl rich in phosphorous.
Bone is the scaffold,
grown in a dark liquid room
before birth.
Ulna, femur, humerus,
were ground for fertilizer
long before the God of Cain
demanded living sacrifice.

As water buffalo drag wooden rakes
to mingle the blood
of clouds and men,
shoots pierce the surface
like puckered holes in skin.
Stalks extend, stubble becoming beard.
Fronds sprout. The highest limbs grow flag leaves,
then, a spray of rough flowers.
Hulls encase nuggets of starchy fruit.

In Washington, two rock levees
hold back trees and grass
at an angle of precisely 125 degrees.
Behind doric columns, weary eyes watch
without blinking, from their marble chair.
For 246 feet, black granite
shimmering like a crystalline pool,
freezes names in careful order
from one to 59,165.