time enough

There's a big part of me that wishes I could just be a housewife, because there is time to pursue the domestic arts.  

To marinate a steak and a chicken breast.

To go to the store and buy salsa and tortillas.

To soak and cook the black beans.

There is time enough to re-fry the beans!

(The term "refried beans" is misleading, as they are only fried once

tonight, in bacon fat

with a minced clove of garlic and a splash of vinegar

[as i do not have lemon juice]

there is time to eat the superfluous bacon 

lowly, with one's fingers, on the couch,

while watching BBC documentaries on atheism.)

There is time enough while the beans are cooking

to smoke on the porch 

and read The Neverending Story

in short, cold bursts. 

I am my own Henry Bernis

my bomb is christmas

and my broken glasses the necessity

of cyclical work and play.

And it's- it's- it's not 

it's not 

it's no-no-not

fair!