Alphabet Bean Soup

ALPHABET BEAN SOUP

green beans

in a snap

shimmy

out

of their white blossom

umbrellas

and

dangle

like earrings

from their stems.

Some beans -

long,

slender

shapely

like a woman's

leg

in

silk stockings

with a seam

running

up the back.

Others -

inpatient for pickers

drop

silently

from their strap-hangers

spelling

S O S

in the sandy soil.

grammar police gather

errant

commas

question marks

lower-case e’s

half-fast c’s

and toss them into

boiling chicken stock

with potatoes -

homegrown alphabet soup.