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,
