Perfect

Poem: "Perfect," by R.T. Smith, inscribed "For Jerome Ward," from Trespasser © Louisiana State University Press.

Perfect

Preparing the salad,
you said the word perfect in botany denotes a species
bisexual and self-sufficient,
while we cut carrot roots,
inflorescence of broccoli, the ripened ovaries of olive
and the bulb of the red onion.
Every seed, you said, holds an embryo inside.
It's all so simple,
and we call plants primal because they survive
without devouring one another
and often work their
increase alone.
Still, we never envy the spiral of cabbage leaves
or a potato's albino eye,
as perfect comes from the Latin for complete,
and we prefer this process of emerging,
two imperfect men happily whittling dinner for their loved ones,
as windblown pollen dusts the windows,
our bright knives clicking on the board.