Vitamin Factory by Haolun Xu

I started to refuse small objects. I wanted to subtract

anything that smelled too much like life. Even mochi,

or the coral candy, pink rice paste

and their lime green counterparts.

The luxury would return to my body,

stomach acid transforming to zinc.

I’d be like soil, with neither weeds nor flowers.

Now, only birds can grow out of the earth.

This is what can be observed as miraculous.

The art of nutrients,

growing without escape.

Warren Buffett said,

‘we sleep, under the shade

of trees someone else planted,

a long time ago.’

I agree, I think surplus

has always been a very human problem.

The issue that when the wounds are closed

and there is no more passage for evil,

even the ground starts to transform.

All health can become a protest.

I’m proud of this, although even that is an estimation.

I think I’m doing this for my soul.

I’m going to save the world like this.

Haolun Xu is 24 years old and was born in Nanning, China. He immigrated to the United States in 1999. He was raised in central New Jersey and is currently studying Political Science and English at Rutgers University. He spends his time between writing poetry and the local seashore.