Delve into plastic bags

stuffed with nouns

pronouns

verbs

adjectives

adverbs picked yesterday spill fat ripe

words like garden-fresh tomatoes and cucumbers

onto an empty white page

and with a freshly sharpened pencil deftly slice away

all adjectives save one

like saving the juiciest garlic clove

to season the bowl

scrape off any moldy

punctuation sprinkle on

simile or metaphor bits like croutons

drizzle

with liquid emotion like honey-mustard

dressing

toss

do that

cracked pepper thing

with the grinder

and while no one is looking

add salt

before serving bake up some popovers

slather them

with herb butter, serve

with the poem

hot.

—Bonnie Thompson Enes

*Dutch poet or Thickener who thicken the language and experience.