Light Food

Lost in the wood

In search of food

I met an old talking tree called Montry

Who taught me a botany lesson for free

I asked him curiously 

How do you get your food?

Curtly he replied

That's simple. I do photosynthesis 

Oh yes. How foolish of me

I had completely forgotten about it

Feigning my ignorance he said

Let me show you how it happens

He touched me with his branch

Decorated with tender leaflets

Suddenly I began to shrink 

To a size smaller than atoms

With my new subatomic form

I was able to see large light balls

Falling all around me 

They are the photons, the tree said 

Climbing onto one of the branches

I anchoring myself to one of the photons

As it jumped into a lush green leaf

Welcome to my kitchen said Mr,Montry 

The photon plunged into a structure

Oval shaped and bounded by two walls

Filled with a fluid - Of DNA, proteins et al

He said You are in one of the chloroplasts now 

Once upon a time they were separate cells

Some of my single celled ancestor engulfed them 

From then on they took over the role of the chef 

Blessed with their special pigment called chlorophyll

They contains special structures called quantosomes

That's where all the actual cooking takes place 

Would you like to see it in detail ?

Yes of course I heard myself say 

The photon I was riding on bumped into a green molecule

Due to the collision impact , two bigger spheres jumped out 

I jumped onto one of those, going through a sequence of reactions

At the end of the ride I became part of a molecule called NADP

With my binoculars I saw a molecule of water 

Shattering its bonds - it released a molecule of oxygen

And donated 2 hydrogen molecules to make my ride NADPH2 

I also saw ADP shake hands with Phosphorous to form ATP

Now this my tiny human friend is called the Light reaction 

Though you humans prefer to call it Hill's reaction 

The two molecules ATP and NADPH2 fuel my tiny kitchens

These reactions need presence of the celestial ingredient - sunlight. 

Now look at that opening towards your far right 

Its the stoma. That's where I get my main ingredient from 

And what is that O talking tree , I said 

Well that's the molecule you expire - carbon dioxide CO2

The process I am showing you is the Dark reaction

And again you people refer it as the Calvin cycle

Hop onto the CO2 molecule and see it for yourself

So I did and waited to witness the proceedings 

Embraced by a group of molecules called Ribulose Biphosphate

With another molecule named as RUBISCO 

Gradually creating another one called Phosphoglyceraldehyde (PGAL)

Also my old chariot NADPH2 got reduced to NADP

As I saw from the PGAL I was hitchhiking on 

Another PGAL came and together they formed frucotse-diphosphate

There were some others who had a penchant need of phosphates

So it was given to them converting my ride into fructose 

Fructose did not seem to like its looks 

So it had a makeover and became glucose 

This my tiny friend is the food I eat 

And indirectly its also the food that you all eat 

Now let me get you back to your true size 

Viola! I was back to my human form 

Thank you for the wonderful tour I said

No problemo, Always ready to help , he said.

I realize you have been very hungry 

Let me give you one of my fruits 

A juicy mango fell on my head

Waking me up from my dream. 

Recently I was helping my sister learn her lesson on photosynthesis - the process in which plants prepare food. It is one of the wonderful processes of life that converts solar energy into chemical energy and also releases oxygen to the environment.  So here is my post for the delicious poetics prompt Poetics– Foodloose,