Ode To Macaroni Poem by Jimi Doyle

Strong enough to carry
a war army on your back
union of purpose
heart with hand
sun buffs floated
through green gold wheat.

Strong enough to carry
40,000 acres of last-patch farmland
through Morgan County
bank notes.

Magnetized into
cooperation through
the sea-crested toiling
of cauldrons...

Still strong enough to carry
every kitchen in this neighborhood
from Poland
and Mexico
and Kankakee.

Strong enough to hold
as if in factory- calloused hands
Spices
Sausages
Salt

The mornings diminish
by twos and threes
and birds of differing songs
land in wheatfields...
on the fingerslips.