Spoon

Spoon

blog question: what comes first,
the spoon or the fork?


Spoon always comes after
fork; fork’s prongs are jealous
of knife’s slicings so fork sneaks
away from knife and waits
for revenge; fork can be
dangerous but knife always
came first, for killing; you
knew that; after the slashes

and wailing, digging and hope
show up metallic-hard
to form spoon, homely assistance
when nothing else is at hand;

spoon can gouge but would rather
dip, echo circles deep enough
to scoop and hold tears; spoon
rounds out to fit everything, daughter-
amiable; spoon lifts soup as hot
as a hope or digs down hard
for some foretastes of comfort;

sometimes spoon reflects
our faces back at us in case
we forget how knife and fork work.

- puah