To The Food That Is “Too Spicy”
I have been craving for you
since I first moved here.
You have been eluding me,
like forever.
You bring tears in my eyes,
and hails of coughing storms from my mouth.
You make my nose flow,
and remind me of your existence like never before.
You treat my stuffed nose
when I get cold.
Don’t let others tell you the right way to be
you make me remember human mortality.
You are the hunger of my stomach.
You are the love of my soul.
You are the longing of my heart.
You are the greed of my tongue.
All I want is
you in my life.
unlike my current situation
which is bland and white.
Author’s Note: People who know me well, know that I’m a sucker for hot and spicy food. Moreover, if it is Indian food, I’d kill for it (not literally, though). I guess it reminds me of my mother’s cooking — her magic ingredient — specially prepared one-of-a-kind spice mix. My mother never used the spice mix from the supermarket (the ready-made packet stuff) in her food. She always used to grind the spices and creates her own spice mix right from scratch. She believes, by doing this, it brings out the authentic taste of the spices and gives a much-needed richness to the food.
Anyway, for my master’s degree, I moved away from my hometown in Telangana State, India, to Bengaluru, India. From the get-go, I never liked the food in Bengaluru. Do not get me wrong, the food in Bengaluru is good and contains its local flavours, but my taste buds say otherwise. Once a week, I order food from a local restaurant (which makes authentic Telangana food), and I treat myself to it.
Similarly, coming to my current situation, life in grad school can get hectic with all the workload. You like it sometimes and dislike it other times. I am at a stage where I am re-living the same day every day. In some sense, it is getting monotonous. I want to spice things up a bit with a weekend getaway, but with the COVID restriction in place, I cannot even do that. I’m stuck. So, in a way, I am comparing my wanting to go away for a weekend with my craving for hot and spicy food.
This poem is inspired by Lucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她) poetry prompt. If you want take a shot at this, you can find the prompt below.
cold brew coffee. a poem | by Lucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她) | The Brain is a Noodle | Sep, 2021 | Medium
