Dave Bonta turns a garden hoe into a kind of pen. The speaker looks at the hoe's L-shaped blade and asks what that "singular L" starts, then answers with a list of things the hoe sets going: new worms from a split body, colonies of bacteria, freshly turned stones, and weed seeds that had waited for decades until the blade woke them. The same shape also makes useful things, like hills for yams, channels for water, and a flat bed for flowers.
Midway, the poem plays with sound. The blade's "thick tongue" seems to speak, and what it says is "Luh," repeated like the rhythm of each chop. The effect is playful, but also physical and a little comic.
The ending shifts the mood. The shocks "travel up the aching arms," reminding us that this creative work costs the body something. The tone is curious and appreciative, with a quiet note of tiredness at the close.