20151016 (ambivalence)

Cooking would be more fun 

If I didn’t create a horrible 

Mess prepping the veggies

Involves cutting away stems

Green beans peeling unsightly 

Leaves lettuce tops carrots

Radishes hacking down the trees

Broccoli cauliflower poor me to

Think of stripping the skin off

A sweet potato scoring the bases

Of brussel sprouts then like an OCD

Maid chopping the waste to 

Compostible bits trucking it all

To the heap lest I breed inevitable 

Vegetable flies can’t call them 

Fruit flies thus we favor leaving 

Skins on potatoes that’s where 

The vitamins are unless they’ll

Be mashed which come out of a box

I’m no fool I cook for one guy is 

He going to rat on himself then

There’s the sweeping the floor

And the desk I confess I do the 

Prep while watching YouTube videos

Of kittens hot rods cheerleaders

Real science specious science I

Can’t take histories of surgery 

Torture witchcraft flower arranging

I’ll listen to singers hymns organ

Music put that in for you AW

Check for blood on the keyboard

Missing fingers cat hair if I’m 

Distributing stuff to at least three

Plastic containers I can’t keep 

Count so I’ll weigh each of them

To even the measures plunk some

Lemon juice too much butter then

They’re ready for the fridge to be 

Apportioned as one vegetable for

Dinner when I think to count units

Roasting a chicken means committing

Myself to dealing with schmaltz

And I’m squeamish about peeling 

Off skin cutting through bones it’s

So much simpler to put the whole

Thing in a pot with some water 

Come back in two hours 

Let the meat fall off the bone 

Once they cool if I were more into 

Casseroles I’d use it there but

Slob that I am chop it into small 

Bits some Ragu spaghetti squash

Another mess in the making 

Parmesan from a can veggie on

The side I have to steel my nerves

To face all the pots and pans that

Result how would I manage if I

Tried somethings elegant I’d lose

Weight prepping one day cooking

The next eating the same then

Cleaning for two days no wonder

Singles prop up Chipotles FiveGuys

Or call in for pad thai then feel

Guilty about the styrofoam box

 c. J.S.Manista, 2015