Poetic Referendum(s) On Life

The Human Wattage

I Was A Thumbsucker

I was the kitchen gadget
taught to peel potatoes,
sacrifice tender epidermal,
layers of youth, seasons-hardened.

Growing hands gripped her paring knife,
learned pressure, how sharp
a blade — clean sever, cube neat —
undressed tubers. Kisses salved a thumb.

From forefinger to thumb, sharp slice
vegetable not the beef of a brawn lad,
summers spent on a hot sidewalk
straightening nails for dad.

before there were food processors,
not a need for one, a fascinated,
culinary-prep observer willingly
lent hands and regenerative tissue.

Still count ten whole digits,
employed as human wattage, who
spared a whirl-some, electric meter,
and by pennies reduced the utility bill.


5.29.24

I wanted to insert some logic about cutting away rather than toward yourself. Potatoes didn't get done that way. Hand-cradled those puppies and split them like atoms? Forget the atoms part.

Wattage, Brian?

Equal to 1 joule per second...no, not julienne. Though, we did have a fryer.

For the geeks (the electricians already know *shrug*):
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3.