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Ode to Grains of Paradise
You grains of paradise! I remember
when I first read about you in The New York Times –
entitled “what peppercorns can only dream of being”
I did not have to go to New York or Ghana,
I ordered you from a Virginian spice supplier.
That day, oh that day you arrived in a box
with masala tea, dried galangal, and your useless friend
asofoetida.
But you, grains of paradise, I reached in immediately
to feel your cardamon-like
asymmetrical roundness.
I savored you slowly, placed you on my tongue, bit down,
felt that peppery, aromatically spicy, Indian, African taste,
and the quick burn down my throat.
I ground you,
days later,
in a wooden mortar and pestle.
Mixed you with tomato juice, Absolut citron, balsamic vinegar,
topped with basil leaves fried in kosher salt.
Grains of paradise, we toasted you
that day of my thesis defense,
drank you down,
observed your softness,
reveled in your vitality on our tongues.
We threw ourselves onto a chartreuse couch
and shouted praises of your complexity.
Grains of paradise, today you sit patiently on kitchen shelf.
I know, I know --I unscrew silver top every few months,
disturb you slightly, ruminate over your melodic, warm, sweetness.
Brilliant afternoon toasts in your name
are gone, but you and I,
we wait, quietly at first.
Then, bursting onto the scene intensely,
we remember our layered past together,
await, another chance to celebrate.
©Jessica Simmons, 2008
Jessica Simmons got her NWP start at UCLA in 2001, and joined BAWP in 2002. After years of working to close the achievement gap in Oakland, she now wakes up each morning in the glorious smog-filled streets of Paris still wondering how she got here. When she is not working remotely for Oakland Teaching Fellows, she is revising years of poetry, enjoying the wonders of pre-roasted beets from the market, and blogging at www.lafromagette.blogspot.com - you can contact her there or at jessica.simmons@gmail.com.
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Copyright 2008 Digital Paper
Copyright 2008 Digital Paper
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