This week’s poem, John Paul Caponigro’s “Worms,” is only partially a poem about eating worms. It is also an example of a Japanese form called a haibun, which combines conversational prose poetry with much more distilled, lyrical lines of haiku. I love how Caponigro’s haibun starts out with the slightly eyebrow-raising, slightly fascinating details of, yes, eating worms, then gradually moves to more thoughtful observations about their habitat, and finally zooms out to larger truths about being alive—including the interconnections of the energy cycle, through which every one of us comes, then goes. 

Caponigro is an internationally collected visual artist and published author. His poetry has been published in over 75 literary journals, in 17 countries, on five continents, including The Ekphrastic Review, Contemporary Haibun, and Dark Mountain. He leads unique adventures in creativity to the wildest places on Earth, helping participants make deeper connections with nature and themselves.

Poets, please note that submissions to Deep Water are open now and through the end of the year. Deep Water is especially eager to share poems by Black writers, writers of color, Indigenous writers, LGBTQ+ writers, and other underrepresented voices. Submit your credits at mainewriters.org/deep-water

Worms

I ate some. But only because I’d heard so much about others doing it. I got tired of hearing about it when no one could tell me what they really tasted like. Cross raw tuna with a hotdog, also in a skin, thin, watery, surprisingly tender, not too chewy. Different when the soil is sandy than when it’s wet. Dirt becomes meat; 

meat becomes dirt.
permeable skin
separation’s illusion

i’m just passing through

– John Paul Caponigro

Megan Grumbling is a poet and writer who lives in Portland. Deep Water: Maine Poems is produced in collaboration with the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance. “Worms,” copyright 2025 by John Paul Caponigro, was originally published in Contemporary Haibun. It appears by permission of the author. Submissions to Deep Water are open now and through the end of the year. For more information, go to mainewriters.org/deep-water.