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I’m cooking while I write this sonnet
poaching asparagus sprinkling them all
with some chili powder shaking the stalks
squeezing on a lemon. These tastes will set
and mix as the vegetables lose steam
and begin to chill. Heat, boil chicken broth
an onion and garlic. Spoon off the froth.
Dice tomatoes and dump that in. Then clean
chop parsley and watercress together.
Wait letting the soup reduce simmering.
Kill the fire as you drop the herbs in
to enhance their color and their flavor.
Overcooked food fades on the tongue. Food’s heard.
Say bread. You see and smell and taste the word.

Don Yorty is a poet and garden activist. He has two published collections of poetry, A Few Swimmers Appear and Poet Laundromat, and was included in Out of This World, An Anthology of the Poetry of the St. Mark’s Poetry Project, 1966-1991 (Crown). His novel, What Night Forgets, was published by Herodias Press. He lives in New York City and keeps a blog at donyorty.com.
*Photo courtesy of Marco Arment.
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