what you put in the pot to cook and eat
makes you. you, the cook. you, the pot, too.
some days you’ll eat rot.
sprinkle cheap salt, bitter laughter.
some days, you’ll choke on, navy blue.
poison will snake its way through or kill. oh yeah,
healing’s on you.
you’re given, then you make do. do, make
make best of, live with. you
the pot, the cook, the dish. always
on heat. hot tin stove. stepping slowly, neatly
painting tomato Pollock on the kitchen walls
chopping tar into mozarella balls.
some foods, not forgiven. surviving
is first. swirling taste of lead
in my mouth. Saying “I have learnt to love”
that little trace of tar. forgive, not forget.
what you put in the pot to cook and eat
remakes you. you, the cook. you, the pot, too.