Kitchen Rules

Written in response to a Cooking Poetry prompt at the ever-delicious Red Wolf Poems. 

Every kitchen needs a window with a view of a Maple Tree.
You can cook in any mood: People always need to eat.
The right music helps.
Opera for Parmesan pasta, etcetera…
Garnish the pasta with parsley butter.

No curtains, but plants on the bookcase are lovely.
Ask the maple to stand just so, limbs spread
so you can watch the leaves change.
Bake your own bread—loaves shaped by hand.
Place a bowl of hot water in the oven for perfect crust.

Of course there’s a bookcase.

While bread bakes, mix spread of cream cheese, rosemary, chives.
Robins may build a nest in the maple. When deciding
what to cook, consider what will fill the air
between you, how birds inside their shells will grow
and dream enveloped in the scent of your kitchen.

Cotton tablecloths. No exceptions.

Almost anything tastes better topped with
toasted pine nuts and butter.
Except brownies. For those, mix in cinnamon and cayenne.
Always buy the best chocolate you can afford.
If there’s any bread left, slice it and eat with the chocolate.

Some day next year, a robin may perch in that tree,
and look in at you, head cocked just so, as if remembering.

Keep the windows open
so the other can hear
when one of you begins to sing.