Genius in alphabet soup.

The can is white and red stripped
like a barber’s pole with plain
green text that reads
First Choice Alphabet Soup.
This is lunch, along with
a slice of dry whole wheat bread
and limeaid.

I take the handle of a can opener
and peel the lid back so it folds
over and touches the side of the can.
Ds and Ms float in the condensed broth
like islands of sand, pushing the parsley
and chunks of chicken like volcanic waste.

Spelling words in alphabet soup
is hard. Never enough vowels,
too many Xs. I spelled ‘cartwheel’
at lunch one time in grade school.
My friend Francis couldn’t read well.
I wonder if he understood alphabet soup.

Alphabet soup is powerful. It turns
spoons and the sides of a bowl
shaped like a turtle’s shell
into a piece of paper. Paper
that spells words like fuekfl
and throlx. This is where
Dr. Seuss got his genius.