First, bleach

your thumbs white.

When you reach

your hands

inside the dark,

ancient soil they will glow

like night worms. Do not

recoil. Light

shoots beneath the ground

in veins, a fringe of

eyelashes.

Carry a shovel and a small

umbrella. Far

beneath the soil surface the earth

silts like a ship

wreck, spokes

of sea sun point

deeper. Plunge

down to where

these carrots recline like small

princes. They rest on

lush, purple carpets

and are the color

of ripe dusk.

Numb their roots with

Novocain, shovels the size of

glial cells. Finally:

Excavate

with butterfly nets

then steep

for twenty minutes.’

Note: “Carrots were originally recorded as being cultivated in present day Afghanistan about 1000 years ago, probably as a purple or yellow root…It is considered that purple carrots were then taken westwards.”

– carrotmuseum.co/uk