The Shelled Pea News

To shell peas on a hot
morning in a pan with a wide
bottom takes all the character
she possesses and her temper
climbs with the thermometer.

She shucks them because she
won’t eat pods, cows chew cuds,
she has only one stomach,
sometimes more than enough.

She keeps a week-old newspaper
in her lap to catch the pods, 
and reads that there are
one hundred million solar systems
in our galaxy. That takes
her mind off the Russians.

One hundred million solar systems
in our galaxy, how many other
women are shelling peas?

At the bottom of the page
it says, never run from a bear
but don’t threaten it. And she
shells peas in a pan with a wide
bottom on a hot morning, citizen
of one hundred million solar systems.