The Dirt-Eaters Poem by Elizabeth Alexander

tra
dition
wanes
I read
from North
ern South:
D.C.

Never ate
dirt
but I lay
on Great-
grandma's
grave
when I
was small.

"Most cultures
have passed
through
a phase
of earth-
eating
most pre
valent today
among
rural
Southern
black
women."

Geo
phagy:
the practice
of eating
earthy matter
esp. clay
or chalk.

(Shoe-
boxed dirt
shipped North
to kin)

The gos
sips said
that my great-
grand
ma got real
pale when she
was preg
nant:

"Musta ate
chalk,
Musta ate
starch, cuz
why else
did her
babies
look
so white?"

The Ex
pert: "In ano
ther gener
ation I
sus
pect it will dis
appear al
together."

Miss Fannie Glass
of Creuger, Miss.:
"I wish
I had
some dirt
right now."

Her smile
famili
ar as the
smell
of
dirt.