“Notes from the Underside of a Leaf,” a book of poetry by Kelly Karivalis, was published in tandem with an exhibition of the same name at Kamihira , featuring works by Alyssa Piro.
Her Name was Biscuit
Biscuit admires the rose-shaped potato chip
with crumbs clinging to her paws
like petals on a wet, green tennis ball.
This is about Biscuit
She takes Forever inside the corner store
Honey. Cookie. Biscuit.
She eats in her bed sprinkled with petals
Some find it sad Some find it
the most vanilla darkness you’ve ever seen.
Mushroom Capital of The World
Lady Clouds float over the Mushroom Capital
Wiggling around the water tower
Hugging its psychedelic curves.
If the mushroom at the end of the world
exists in the mushroom capital of the world
then the mushroom capital of the world
is the end of the world
and the strip mall in the mushroom capital of the world
is the strip mall at the end of the world
and if they don’t have the perfume Biscuit is seeking
literally no one will.
And if Biscuit can’t smell like Ethereal Plethora
she knows she’s gonna lose her dream Mushroom
to a Dog damn girly mixed drink of a flower.
they are bad dot com
gross dot oh are gee
not tasty at all dot net
really don’t care for them dot n-o
this mushroom is the saddest excuse for a bell bottom you’ve ever seen
Notes from the Underside of a Leaf
Predictions of the future
are written in the leaves
the mathematical formula
that may very well be Dog herself
humans are the worst
they only look at leaves on their phones
they only look at flowers in store windows
they turn mushrooms and biscuits into gravy
the put stickers on their cars
to prove what they believe:
MY DOG IS AN AWESOME DOG
LIFE IS GOOD BECAUSE DOG IS GREAT
NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH DOG
DOG IS MY COPILOT
LET GO AND LET DOG
DO YOUR BEST LET DOG DO THE REST
take the time to worship
for just one second
the underside of a leaf
and realize the smallest things are the most ethereal
because they are not screaming for attention
they are whispering
they are softly cooing
knowing that only the worthy will find them
and they won’t have to waste their time
trying to explain
their ethereal intricacies
to plebs.
DOG IS …
hanging out, invisible
beneath the underside of a leaf, the most ordinary leaf you’ve ever seen
orchestrating the universe.