I COOK FOOD

 

by Pulkita Anand        

                                                                                        

Good food, good mood

Food is art, and food is love

Food is the language of the heart

A way to a man's heart is through his stomach

My qualification is to cook food

My life depends on food (everyone’s)

I cook food in health and in hell

I cook food day in and day out

I cook food at night, in the evening, and in the afternoon

I cook food when demanded

Food decides my life; food decides my being as a wife

Food decides my love; food decides my grief

Eating is brief; cooking is long

Shouting is easy; cooking is hard

I cook food in pain

I cook food in rain

I cook food with sleepy eyes

I cook food with a fever

I cook food in heat

I cook food in cold

I cook food when I can’t hold

I cook food with tears

I cook food on time

I get late for work, but I cook food

I come back drained, but I cook food

I cook food without choice

I cook food without hope

I cook food that I don’t eat

I cook food that I don’t want

I eat your abuse, your slap, your hatred,

Your taunt and your sarcasm

I cook food for your family,

Your friends, your employees

Your seniors, your juniors

I cook food in rebuke

I add my crushed dreams, chopped likes, sliced hobbies, grated wishes to the cauldron

And heat them on the stove till they dissolve and lose their existence

The only thing I am able to do is cook food

The only thing I am not able to do is cook food

 

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Pulkita Anand is the author of We Were Not Born to Be Erased: An eco-poetry collection. Her work has been published in Shortstory Kids, Twist and Twain, Tint Journal, Lapis Lazuli, and a number of other journals.