PLACE ON THE FOOD CHAIN

Miss Bowman came from Indiana
to be our sixth grade teacher
young even to sixth graders
probably no more than twenty
and smoking cigarettes
in the cafes down town
she seemed to know something
other teachers hadn’t learned.

she told me I had a place on the food chain
she said everybody has a place
even Max Grant who was alive then
and as far as I know figured he would always be
but he died young in his thirties
while the rest of us went on living for awhile

there was something she said about worms
that may have some relevance here
but the part about corn being used to feed chickens
and chickens being the most usual Arkansas Sunday dinner
was the part that made the most sense then
and how would they get into those metal coffins anyway?