click here to hear Adele Graf read "Lighty up and Over"
Lightly Up and Over
dormant kernels clatter down the steel bin
jostle headlong, rush to mingle
tremble when warmth they’ve never known
flows from below
then each releases its aroma
joint scent wafts among them
stirs the corn to yearn
for bliss its hardness has barred
it from so far
pop—one bursts into white bloom
others sense softness in their skin
nestle in the throng of open corn
that levitates, touched by
such close contact
now their inner grain takes shape
but from below pops accelerate
rat-a-tat, new kernels surge on air
nudge the high corn through the chute
over the edge, to fall into cold bowls
a brief flowering dashed with salt
