Yes, they look like honeycombs stuffed with green
peas, but they’re plant cells holding chloroplasts:
biological pathway’s pavement, means
for keeping us alive. Your salad’s last
romaine leaf, there on your fork—organelles
galore. We heterotrophs thrive on such
veggies, breathing oxygen they expel,
then ripping laminae from earth to munch
the mesophyll jazzed up with vinegar
and oil. Light energy turning to
chemical power within us—the star
of our existence. When our lunch is through,
let’s speak of our declining aquifers,
since this whole life process requires water.
Roger Armbrust
September 18, 2007
