Walkin' on Eggshells

 

My dad used to eat Tums like a ritual,
Crunching the little tablets with a sort of zeal,
"They're made from ground eggshells, that's why they're good for your stomach," he would say.
Calcium Carbonate, styled as CaCO3,
Makes up chalk and limestone,
Lines the underground caverns beneath Kentucky,
Supports the towers of concrete and glass of New York
(The bedrock of Manhattan island is partly limestone)
It infiltrates the grimy sidewalk in the summertime,
Poorly drawn post-impressionist sketches done by my kindergarten class
That I would teach once a week;
I would use it in school before we upgraded to whiteboards;
It makes up my bones and
Mysteriously manifests itself in many forms.
White powder, green stone, multicolored sticks of washable street art,
I stand in the shower
And often I would drink from the stream of hot water
And the calcium buildup gives the water a flavor:
It tastes nothing like Tums.
But it is the same thing!
I wonder if people who live in cities with a high calcium content in their water
And also drink a lot from their shower stream
Have calmer gastrointestinal systems?
It may explain why it's very hard for me to get stomachaches.