an unrehearsed universe

delicately poached.

Sauce a demi-glace of undiluted espagnole

The herbs
annatto, dried sage,
medicinal bergamot
crumbled with age into dust

Vegetables, of course
wilted kale
russet-tipped asparagus
buttered browned spinach

Meat.

Bred true on simmered sorrow,
what did we not know of bitter?

The sum of this meal,
this meat, bitterer still.
An answer resides in the braised innards.

Our hearts we ate, limned in cruelty;
Our tongues we ate, biting and bestial.

They were bitter.
They were good,
much as the poet had said.