General Tso's Recipe: A Self Portait by Celeste Bloom
Instructions:
Let the knife carve along the ribs of the carcass
etch every groove into your mind
along the compacted curves of your cerebellum
following a winding road
leading into the mist
a missed home.
Let the spatula press firmly against your tongue, massage the forgetfulness from your tastebuds
Let your hands knead the dough
palms sink into your lobes, lines, folds
tell a story of love
of longevity
of a red thread tightly wound against the brain.
Let the dough rise like the prideful puffing of the chest with passion fruit embers lying in the hearth of the bellies.
Bask in the heat of the second womb, the oven of incubation that you create for yourself
because you understand
that a recipe need not ingredients
when it was you all along.
Related
Tagged Issue 10