tiddly winks

there's tiddly winks
under my sink

a correspondence of beans

a banality of dry white beans
sit quietly in a dusty jar.

an onion arguing with extinction
airs it's affliction in the bin.

a wodge of summer tomatoes solid in the freeze is neighbor to 

a chronicle of ham, still fastened 

to it's homeliness 

of bone.

my pot heats as i pour 

the correspondence of beans, 

ham bone, onion and tomatoes into it's gape.

with a bang of the lid

i walk away.

6 hrs. pass as the interplay between these 

four attitudes 

mix and mingle into one autonomous 

soup.

in the meantime i have sifted and stirred and paddled and beat

an episode of flours, egg, milk and honey

into an inclination of 

cornbread.

spooning the lusty gruel into my bowl

my senses receive a donation of joy and

a larceny of languor that gives my tummy

narrative.

what was old is new!

what was dead is stew!

long live bean soup!

we sing and toot and toot and sing

long live bean soup! 

it's a midwest thing.

last night (mootz called)

we met when we were 14
or was it 15?
was it at a birthday party
or had i run away from home
again.
we both smoked cigarettes.
we walked out of the light
into the night
talking nonstop.
we sat on a curb under a tree
smoking.
she told me her story
i told her mine.
we cried.
we were misfits.
our childhoods were over
but we were still children.
we faced the pain of dealing with
the mistakes our parents had made,
the crimes they committed and
the devastation of being victims.
we didn't know then
how long and arduous the journey would be
but for the Grace of God.

she called last night and said my name, then said hers.
i gasped.
we talked for an hour interrupting each other
with too many questions and so much to say.
her voice and laugh were the same as i had remembered
and i missed her like i missed running in the night.
i missed her like rhine wine and steppenwolf.
i missed her like walking down the railroad tracks
forever.
45 years slipped away, disappeared, invisible to the eye
but the depths and breadth of the love in my heart for her
were tangible.
it was a night to remember.