Whiteness

Whiteness

The milk rising in the weigh
Jars every morning and every evening
Of my life
And years and years before
I was born like bone
Melted down
Or poured porcelain
A mystery how they made it
Out of the dark grass
Maybe the greatest mystery
The whiteness shining in darkness
The darkness comprehending it not
Milk money bought the bed
I slept in the clothes I wore
The books I knelt over
Evenings by lamplight
That was powered by milk
Money
We lived off of whiteness
And I believed it
Was holy
How could I not
Warm as it was fresh
From the maternal body
But growing colder
Colder as it rose in those weigh jars
The thing about any treasure is
It’s so heavy