How does a poem work?

Is it mechanical? Levers, pulleys, engines?
It is skeleton with internal organs?
Does it age?
Is death part of its genetic framework?
It is mostly body? Mostly mind?

Are these artificial distractions?



About a meal, this, too, constructed, revised over time. The good kept. The not-so never attempted again.

Does the poem work?

What is signified by “work?” Heavy lifting? Cerebral shenanigans?


The meal offered (chili flakes added to mussel broth) – that worked. Add thanks to yum.