The first Write Out Loud Poem of the Week of 2017 is ‘The carbon cycle’ by Alex Smith, who describes himself on his profile page as an organic farmer, from Harleysville, Pennsylvania, in the US. ‘The carbon cycle’ is a short, elliptical poem that takes in a wedding cake, and a mysterious figure that “called me once to talk about fungi: / their dark networks / that join the living and the dead.” Other poems that Alex has posted on Write Out Loud refer to his farming background, such as ‘New Farmer’, ‘Vineyards’, and ‘Winter Growing.’   

THE CARBON CYCLE

by Alex Smith

what we have now is a photo:
Katherine and I with the wedding cake
under a park shelter

and there he is outside
in the background alone and small
and brilliant in the sunlight.

He called me once to talk about fungi:
their dark networks
that join the living and the dead

but that was before he went into the basement
and Katherine pressed the button
and his body released into the air