Vegetable Salad Series 2: The Onion Speaks

Red Onions

I am the finest metaphor
for people growing old.
Across all Germany you’ll find me
crowning church towers, proud and bold.

I make an excellent metaphor
for the layered human soul,
and I can also stand
for complexity made whole—

the living face of systems,
with all their nested art.
Peel away my skins, one by one,
and in time you’ll reach my heart,

my core, which bears the name Mamushka too.
I only hope it won’t upset you
that, when you peel me,
you’ll soon be weeping too.

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