Chestnut

William Kupinse

Sea urchin's convergent cousin, landed
by wind or the inevitable cleave of stem,
nettles the mossy earth to command
its claim: Here, the credo of each spine.
How did its inside, once removed
and caramelized in Christmas hearths or hawked
from city carts, come to stand for truth
uncapitalized, wisdom to be pocketed
and worried in odd moments? What aphorism
binds these happenstance discoveries
to our large needs, then sees them through the prism
of the too-familiar? Simplicity
could never be the answer, every child knows.
Burnished without fire the chestnut glows.

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