poetry / culinary poetics
The Time When Everything Seems Half-Sized
A deep red companion
frisson in my hollow
cool crimson spherules
soothing esophagus
sweet hawthorn juice~~
seeping through tender pear orbs
hoisting balsamic pearls~~bursting
into glorious finish
hawthorn~~red berry mush pressed into flakes*~~
takes the edge off everything bitter
lodging childhood love amidst
imported confections in dazzling tins
of Roman column imprints.
this faithful fruity companion~~
size of large coins. a fraction of the thinness
~~crimson in olden days~~
in subdued monotone wraps. wins
acaffcaff…ahuff..ough…khhhrrrrrr…ack
mom never preferred commercial cough meds.
compound coffee-black cures of
these herbs for loose rattles
those herbs for barks
add this for wheezes
add that for flu
leaves. twigs. roots. berries. peels. her forte
not only removing symptoms
they balance our bodily systems. mom decocted
in sickness and in health
the Great Pharmacopoeia of 1596 agrees
black tonics still come with sweet hawthorn friends
flakes shrunk into puny rounds today
fake dusty pink
half-sized
in glitzy wraps i have never fancied
half-sized
like everything i see
outside the window
or was it me?
a case of outgrowing the colonial
outgrowing the Christmas tree
i look out the window again
Paris. London. Venice. half-sized
and back to the crimson orbs
on lush white table cloth
i sink my determined teeth into
hawthorn infused snow pear spherules
life is complex. and juicy
© Pseu Pending (Seu) 2024
*Hawthorn flakes~~Commonly used as a naturally sweet accompaniment for traditional Chinese herbal medicines which can be somewhat bitter.
Culinary Poetics~~
