(musings on the cleaning (or not) of refrigerators)
© Copyright 2005 Pragmavision Publishing - Claudia Schmidt
Food gets impatient in its cool dark suspension
It slows but does not stop the mindless inclination to transform itself
It’s not even important whether it’s your body’s chemistry which provides
The catalytic climate or, more to the point here, the chemistry lab
Which is currently your murky refrigerator,
So you, of little time to prepare food, pay heed, you who keep meaning
To liquidate those pricey scrumptious leftovers, GET REAL!
They waited for you but now they have gone on right in place,
Liquidating themselves, unresistant to change, gracefully assuming
The green, the blue furry mantles, the pastel polka dots,
The swelling and shriveling circus of decay silently enacting itself
While once again you head home from Happy Hour, licking your chops
In anticipation of the veal parmigiana you brought home,
When was it, just a few days ago, right?
Better think twice about that. .same goes for the wild mushroom soup
Bubbling away now in its cool germy cauldron.
Even that fancy chevre has given up holding its own and suggests
Greener pastures in this minefield which your life of culinary slackerdom has created..
Potatoes under your sink explore olfactory horizons of rancidity.
Garlic and onions send their young shoots skyward in a jubilee
Of resurrection and inedibility.
As you pull into your driveway, a perishable paradise festers and waits
For no one, blind to your hopes and expectations,
Neither is its gentle flurry of activity the result
Of any vengeful motivation, just things taking their natural
Microbial course far, far away from your busy schedule.
Suppose for a moment it’s not so different from some situations
In your life, where you’ve been shelved and forgotten.
It’s not nearly so easy for you to move on before finally being
Thrown out, way past your expiration date.
Think about this while you order Chinese whose leftovers you can add
To the mystery takeout lurking behind the prime rib scraps
Toward which you now absent-mindedly reach. .DON’T!
They’ve crossed over and they don’t care if they take you with them.
Unless, of course, you’re ready for some real change.
copyright 2005 pragmavision publishing - claudia schmidt
Available on the compilation SOMETHING FRESH – Earthwork Music 2005 www.earthworkmusic.com Click Here
