The food has been cooked
too long, too hot.
The bowl is too hot to touch
without protection
of habeas corpus,
due process,
freedom of assembly
to warn with free speech
that the food is too hot.
When the food is too hot
we must eat around the edges
where cooler air lowers
the heat and hostility
on the tongue of those
who eat from the middle
un-thinking, un-aware,
ready to mix up reality
thinking it will cool food down.
Eat from the edges.
Save the tongue for speech
un-damaged by the heat.
Cool air cannot reach the middle
until the edges have been removed.
Eat around the edges
to compete with the heat
and bring the heat down
until the food can be handled
and the tongue un-mangled
until the food once again
can be swallowed
and the entire community fed.
annarino writes 