Paul Gauguin, Still Life of Onions and Pigeons and Room Interior in Copenhagen (1885)
New for 2013, The Austerity Kitchen's "Poet-Taster" series features culinary verse from contemporary poets.
The Kitchen Weeps Onion
The kitchen weeps onion
because the cook is dead. Pans strike chorus
and the ladles keep a knock-kneed stride.
Burners gleam more brightly. Chives,
chives, and chives. Everyone seems so tired
but the diners can't sleep. The kitchen tonight
weeps onion, so everyone else must weep.
What's the use in talking? Let's touch,
and turn apart. The cook is quiet,
cold, unearthly, and the turnip
breaks its heart.
"The Kitchen Weeps Onion" appears in Charms Against Lightning, the debut collection from James Arthur published in November 2012 by Copper Canyon Press (reprinted with permission).