Food: A Tale of Two Cities

North Pond,  2012

Emulsions, coulis, reductions.  They festooned in small pools of earth tones, surrounding a piece of grilled swordfish on my plate.  I thought then of  the dish of braised tofu at my favorite hole-in-the-wall restaurant, rubbed expertly each time with minced garlic, lemongrass, and ginger, and served with steamed rice.  Nothing fancy, just infinitely more satisfying.

A Man and his Greyhound

They met in the twilight of their lives,
he tells us, pattering down the street
thinned of passersby at this time of day.

"In her heyday, she was really something."

Now, her sinews repose in pleats
as she ambles alongside, gladly yielding
to his gentle tug,
holding within a ridged and high forehead
a past that is only half hers.

Accident

One moment borne on leaves
slicked
strewn in swathes I do not see
as the rain catches its breath
holding in abeyance the sequence of homes on the lake
and maples resplendent in orange.

And in that heightened time out of time
a lanky elm will no longer stay faceless
couching me in its crook.