Gail McConnell Worm
b'In a poem that addresses a worm directly as \\u201cyou,\\u201d Gail McConnell considers how these tube-shaped beings live: ingesting the earth, aerating it, digesting it, making its nourishment accessible for all kinds of growth. The worm burrows, knows dead things, and knows underground ways. Tiny and segmented though a worm is, nonetheless it senses that \\u201call there is // can be gone through.\\u201d The poem\\u2019s close attention to the worm\\u2019s tactics of survival seems to indicate that much could be learned from its underground ways.'