Origin of Brown

Beneath tarmac, asphalt; blacktop, bitumen—
brown, which is the soil out of which the clay

of our bodies was molded. How do the birds
trapped in a bamboo grove take flight? If we go 

by the story, we're the outcome of Bathala's 
experiments with matter and fire— Pasty forms 

taken out too early, flabby from lack of color 
and tone. Those consigned too long in fire,

all their lives bear the mark of that 
dark burnishing. We can't  help 

who we are, but that only means we've 
learned there's someone who has wished 

this world (with us in it) repaired or annexed; 
or signed and sold, like a tract of land.