COTTEN, Ann; CMELKA, Kerstin
I, Coleoptile

But now what to make of that misty word ‘coleoptile’ from the title? It is a term from botany and denotes the membranous sheath of grassy plants, which encloses the plant shoot. It is the membrane that protects the germinating seed in the ground until it is strong enough to develop into a full plant. It is, therefore, an enclosing form fully at the service of an emerging organism. Or to paraphrase: I Coleoptile am only the provisional shell of a flawless bean becoming. It is tempting to see in this a metaphor for the ephemeral body versus the eternal soul. 

[publisher's note]

Published by Broken Dimanche Press
Poetry