You must season your food.

The 6pm aroma must waft out your kitchen door and ask your neighbors about their day.

Steaming clouds from greasy chicken stew patrol the neighborhoods, 

Breaking up petty fights and pausing endless ball games,

Escorting dust-covered children safely back home.

The clockwork quickening of footsteps 

When the church-bell ding ding ding of ladle against stainless steel pot rings,

Calling families to gather and pray.

This dining table is a temple for my people,

Where broken hearts are mended and testimonies shared.

After Baba fails to shake the demons that plague him from 9 - 5,

We light our scented candle of roast potatoes and exorcize his soul.

God’s goodness is sung over the shrills of scraping forks on cheap ceramic plates.

A daily dosage that tempers the disease of life,

We retreat to our beds having forgotten to feel pain.

Chef, priest, and doctor meet in one kitchen,

Making a cassock and scrubs out of an apron.

It’s the miracle of having nothing, yet having it all

Is why you must 

Always 

Season 

Your food.

Yours truly got published for the first time! To read my full anthology, Unspoken Black House Rules, please head over to https://www.panoplymichiana.com/blog/july-poet-valerie-jairosi