Toenail

 The blades of the Podiatrist’s

Toenail clippers close,

Detaching a chunk of yellow keratin

From the extremity of the body

On which it growed.

The surface of the Podiatrist’s

Toenail file rasps,

Removing little bits of dryskin

And more particles of keratin.

The edge of the Podiatrist’s

Sharp scalpel slices slivers

Of dead calloused toeskin.

And all this detritus,

The yellow keratin chunks,

The bits of dryskin,

And the calloused toeskin

Will be incinerated.

As will the body which generated it.

Atoms from the incinerations will

Float and merge universally

With water, with gases, with air,

With plants and fungus,

With birds and beasts

With rivers and seas.

And one day

On some planet somewhere

It will again grow

A toenail.