What the Onion Teaches

by Laura Grace Weldon

Anything, seen wholly,
teaches everything.
Take a raw onion, harsh to its core.
Unpeel, unring, and hold to the light.
It is complete
as the soil, sun, and rain of its making.
Sauté the rings in oil
till the onion relaxes into itself,
elevating everything added next.

This looking, this warmth, and trust
is how the prisoner finds Shakespeare,
the lonely child discovers trees,
the battered woman pulls away layers
ready to be seen.

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Laura Grace Weldon lives on Bit of Earth Farm where she’s an editor, nonviolence educator, and marginally useful farm wench. She’s the author of a poetry collection titled Tending and a handbook of alternative education, Free Range Learning. Although she has deadlines to meet, she’s more likely to be hiking in inclement weather or nattering on her blog.