Hybridization

She took off her shoes at noon and stood in the furrow.

Imagine a crop of women, part wheat, part corn, part bean,

the three from standard rotation become one creation,

head, silk, and nodules taking nitrogen from the soil hand

over fist. The farmers invested part for seed and part

for selling, as in the old days before pharmaceutical companies

took over farming just as they’d taken over sugar.

When they saw the new opportunity, technicians made advances

that would keep fields free from pests and weeds, raising

the women’s yield even higher until they were the only product

available on the market. Summer nights, she sped past the fields,

the edges of her headlights glancing on acres of rows of bodies

as if full pews had risen in worship to hear the reading

of the gospel, but instead of listening, whispered sister, sister.

*