Know Your Ground Poem by Laura Kauffman

Despite my blistered hands
and calloused knuckles
and over-taxed knees

I cannot grow tomatoes.
It's the soil, they said,
Have you tested your levels?

Calcium.Sand.
Nitrogen.Clay.
You must know your ground.

But only lately
have I walked this land
of my inheritance,

only recently looked
at the wild mystery
that lives beneath my toes,

only newly raked
my fingers through earth
and wondered,

is this bone that eroded
to silt in my hand?
life that bled iron

to fashion this bed?
history that tastes
so sweet on my tongue?

In my frivolous hunger
I surrendered my birthright.
In your just disapproval


I fled from my ground
and now I fear this dormant soil
will never grow for me.