2000/whitebean

White bean soup with kale.
Low on coriander and
running out of cumin,
my favorite herb.
Coriander. Cumin. Fennel.
Pitta fare, used as a tea
for inflammatory conditions.
I sent him some for prostate problems.
He declined to drink it,
although I had asked if he would
before it was sent.
It takes a man for medicinal tea,
I have it every night.
It takes discipline too,
something I have built
a teaspoon at a time.
A half teaspoon really.
Scooping from my triphala bag.
Other people get discipline from sports.
I guess it doesn’t matter
where it comes from,
as long as it gets here in time.
There is always the fear
that makes us want to put off
getting it at all,
that once we get things right
our life will end,
figuring it has completed itself
like a story.
So we keep success at bay.
Try to trick the universe into
falling for our mythic struggle.

People my age are dying young,
they don’t seem to be holding up.
A man I knew just died.
A friend of mine has cancer.
Maybe that’s why I have this sense
that I’ll be gone soon myself.
Cumin. Coriander. Fennel.
White bean soup with kale.

3/22/00