Carbohydrates | Teen Ink

Carbohydrates

September 22, 2022
By TrekkingAmongTheStars BRONZE, Clayton, Missouri
TrekkingAmongTheStars BRONZE, Clayton, Missouri
2 articles 0 photos 3 comments

Favorite Quote:
Blasphemy? Before what God? A God repulsed by the miserable humanity he created in his own image? I will not be shackled by the failures of your God. The only blasphemy is to wallow in insignificance. I have taken refuse of your God's failures and I have triumphed! There! There is my creation!
-Herbert West, Bride of Reanimator (1990)


Amino acids, carbon & nitrogen, hydrogen & oxygen 

Protein chains, sugar & salt, starches & vitamins

All protons on neutrons, electrons on atoms

Energy & chemicals & enzymes & peptides

Digestion & blood, sugar & fat

You're alive, you're alive, you're alive

Folds of your stomach, cells upon cells

Carbon on carbon on carbon, my dear

Patterned like snowflakes, woven like thread

Crystalline & fluid & patchwork & fibrous

Organelles & cytoplasm, ATP & DNA

Tapestry of life, infinitesimal, infinite

Evil's nowhere to be found here;

The only toxins lie with starvation-

Only flowers grow here.

Starches & sugar & fat & salt

You're alive, you're alive, you're alive-

Isn't it beautiful?

The pinch of soft 'round your middle, your subcutaneous tissue?

All carbon on carbon on carbon again

Health is in thriving, happiness in indulgence, my dear

The world's in the toast crumbs on your chin.


The author's comments:

This poem was written about my recovery from anorexia, as well as my love of biology and chemistry, which helps me to heal. How can I hate my body when it is such a captivating miracle of complex chemical reactions, the randomness of the universe creating life with every breath?


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