(yerbamate)

He likes yerba
mate chai,
telling me
it isn’t tea.
The smell alone
would have kept
it from becoming
something history
was made over.
I drink it with
lots of honey,
because it does
almost everything,
gives you energy
and makes you sleep.
Good for appetite,
digestion and endurance,
mineral rich,
full of antioxidants.
A moral company
to boot, preserving
the rain forest.

He’s lucky that
way, in his taste.
Preferring potatoes
without butter,
(or soy margarine
in our case)
his salad without
dressing – it makes
me nervous to think
of it –
and lonely foods
like brussels sprouts
and cauliflower.

3/8/99