*
An irregular hemisphere with bumps and concave wrinkles
like a miniature bald head—a phrenologist's dream—
with one side of the hemisphere slightly less rounded.
Four-fifths of it covered with a paper-thin
reddish-brown rind, made shiny with
the oil secreted from the indentation
reddish-brown rind, made shiny with
the oil secreted from the indentation
behind your nostrils where the nose meets the face.
(You can grease up your forefinger by rubbing the spot
and then rubbing the nut, or you can just rub
the nut in the spot, as I do.)
and then rubbing the nut, or you can just rub
the nut in the spot, as I do.)
*
The final fifth, a cutaway of the shell on the lower portion
of the flattened side—a slightly blackened,
dullish brown surface that can't be shined—perhaps,
on some evolutionary
on some evolutionary
scale, if one thinks of the nut as a brain,
which it resembles, the area where the cerebellum,
the medulla oblongata, and the beginning (or end)
of the spinal cord meet.
of the spinal cord meet.
*
Called a horse chestnut because it was used somehow
in the treatment of horses' ailments. Nowadays,
it is useless, like so many other things.
Or, rather, a new use
it is useless, like so many other things.
Or, rather, a new use
for it has yet to be found. (Except in this case.)
*
It grows on a tree and is enclosed in a spiny burr—
a porcupine golf ball that seems impregnable if it is not ready
to open. Protection from what? Is nature so concerned
about an inedible nut?