consolation in the kitchen

arqios

 

Consolation in the Kitchen

 

The knife rests,
its silver edge carrying
a small sun across the crust.

 

You wanted the impossible—
to butter your toast and eat it too,
to keep the sheen intact
while tasting its warmth.

 

Isn’t that the old wish,
to hold the thing and spend it,
to keep the flame unbroken
while leaning into its light?

 

So we practice the art of vanishing:
a bite, a swallow,
the plate left clean
yet somehow still radiant.

 

And tomorrow,
when the loaf is smaller,
we’ll laugh at the trick again—
to butter your toast and eat it too,
and call it survival.

 

 

 

 

.

 

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Comments +

Comments6

  • sorenbarrett

    Deeply philosophical as well as poetic the two merge in this poem. The cutting edge reflective beams light or knowledge on the crust of surface. Man always strives to understand and accomplish the impossible. How do we retain what we consume? Keep clean that, that we dirty. We fool ourselves thinking that we can save the planet as we ravish it not noticing tomorrow that it has grown smaller and doing the same all over.

    • arqios

      Thanks, Soren. This is very encouraging since it was a tough week for me and it’s going to be an equally trying start to the next working week. 🙏🏻🕊️

      • sorenbarrett

        You are most welcome my friend I wish you respite from the past week and a smoother than expected entry into the next.

        • arqios

          Most grateful and hopeful as well🙏🏻🕊️

        • Tristan Robert Lange

          Arqios, this poem glows from the inside out. The everyday turned sacred, the ordinary act made eternal. You buttered existence itself and called it truth. Masterful, my friend. 🌹🖤🙏🕯️🐦‍⬛

          • arqios

            Thanks, Tittu. I’m here is a lift that shall carry me through yet another week. 🙏🏻🕊️

          • orchidee

            Good write A.

            • arqios

              Thanks O 🙏🏻🕊️

            • Goldfinch60

              May your toast always be buttered Rik.

              Andy

              • arqios

                Indeed Andy, and likewise 🙏🏻🕊️

              • Friendship

                This is a heartfelt poem. The poem uses the act of buttering toast as a powerful reminder to cherish life's precious moments while navigating the inevitability of loss and change, inspiring us to find strength, comfort, and hope in the bittersweet journey of existence.

                • arqios

                  Many thinks for this substantial review, dear Friendship 🙏🏻🕊️

                • FrasMac

                  First stanza drew me right into the tale. Line 3 is as bright as the picture it is drawn from.
                  If I may say, reading your works remind me a little of a famous Scots poet by the name of Norman MacCaig, whose talent, at least to my limited understanding, lay in his ability to bring life to otherwise dull, everyday happenings.



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