*cross posting with Ethical ELA Open Write five days of poetry…
the kitchen taunts me,
the ladles, the pans, the pots.
I refuse to tell a story,
listen to a story
while the water scolds me
while the sauce splatters me
while seasonings spit at me
“What does the recipe SAY?”
“How many minutes?”
“What’s a simmer?”
but las mujeres.
Mi abuela y mi tía y mi mami –
love and heal and pass wisdom
through the searing heat of caldo de pollo
in the warmth of tacos de papa con huevo
es un baile en la cocina
for the women
while the water listens to mi abuela
while the sauce submits to mi tía
while the seasonings seek to be cared for
by mi mami
the way I, too, listen and submit and seek
to be cared for
and loved
and held
and healed
by the ancestral wisdom
that holds us together
en la cocina