Look closer, green goes to purple

Edith Oaken

Examine a leaf
really take in all the little details
feel it with your fingers
is it rough or smooth? 

Can you feel how it 
has ever so many bumpy veins? 
Large ones, smaller ones
arching out?

I hold the leaf up to the light 
of the weak afternoon sun, it is translucent
like your hand in mine
I can almost see

the shadows of the 
garden through it, purple veins, valves that 
leak. I look away and up 
at the underside 

of the apple tree
fancy I can see silvery water vapour 
rising out of each 
tiny stoma

the xylem, lignified, rigid
keeping water flowing up the plant 
one way. Veins flow one way too
until they don’t.

Your hand holds less 
weight than it used to. Is that just 
my imagination? I try to 
remember the curve

of your palm, the strength of
your grip, how your fingers are soft
the smell of apple blossom, time 
seems to flow a little quicker

now and pain and swelling 
is hard to see, I can’t stop myself looking
to the future, imagining a
time when I sit here

under our tree, my palm is open
but my hand has forgotten 
how to mould itself to the 
shape of yours.

Examine the leaf in your hand
really take in all the little details
feel it with your fingers
is it rough or smooth? 

Can you feel how it 
has ever so many bumpy veins? 
Large ones, smaller ones
arching out?

The Science

In writing this poem I was inspired by the structures that make up the vasculature of plants and humans and in particular the unidirectional flow that occurs in xylem and veins. When this goes wrong trapped air in xylem or a blood clot in the veins of the leg (deep vein thrombosis) can lead to a blockage or embolism. Xylem transports water and minerals up the plant against gravity. This is due to hydrogen bonding between water molecules, adhesion with the xylem wall and evaporation of water from the leaves at the top of the plant. The processes of capillary action and transpiration pull the water up through the plant. Water evaporates out of tiny pores in the leaves called stomata (singular: stoma), causing a difference in pressure that pulls water up from the roots. Xylem cell walls contain the polymer lignin (lignified) this lends rigidity to the plant and prevents water from leaving the xylem. The vascular system of plants also contains phloem which transports sugars produced in the leaves during photosynthesis to the rest of the plant. Veins contain one way valves, when intact these prevent the backflow of blood. Breathing creates a vacuum that causes the blood in veins to move upwards towards the heart along with skeletal muscle contractions. The contraction of leg muscles that happens as we walk is particularly important for moving blood in the veins against gravity and back to the heart.

The Poet

Edith Oaken has always been fascinated by the complexity of the natural world and how there is still so much that we don’t understand. She is working on her first poetry pamphlet, her poetry has appeared in Wildfire Words ezine and Myth and Lore zine. Instagram: @edithoaken

Next poem: loop theory by Adrien Kade Sdao