Feast
Each spice adds more character, more complexity,
Enjoyable to the tongue
Sharing food using hand
Right, to show respect (you’re likely scolded if you use the left).
Some like to enjoy each curry individually
Using rice as a medium and carefully tasting the qualities.
Some don’t touch certain curries, not letting it
Taint their mouths with unwanted flavor.
Yet each of these distinct, defining flavors
Are joined together by the hospitality of
The event,
Virtue.
I was a bully
A perfect ball, right where it needed to be
An uneven, rigid surface, a patio
Filled with rocks, to change the ball’s path.
A slight undulation and the ball darts left,
Slamming defiantly into the wicket.
“That was some straight B.S”
My cousin shoved black pellets towards me
Rocks, piercing my skin
A slap on the back of head, feeling a shove in my back,
Putting my cousin in a forward nelson,
Spreading his body like butter,
Across the rocky ground,
A black pellet breaking his skin’s surface.
I saw the anguish on his mother’s face.
My aunt’s face:
“How could you?”
I was a bully, but never again.
I chose poise.
Paddy fields.
Rice, growing in random splotches
Like fresh vegetables on lilies across a 70-acre piece of land
Me, my sister, my cousin,
Throwing rice at each other
Playing in the rain, dewey droplets on our wet bodies
Water caked on us like a face full of make-up.
Irresponsible, carefree
Yet beautiful.
Paddy fields.
I chose playfulness.
Giants
Larger than life animals with trees for trunks,
A bold grey coat, weathered by experience,
I wanted so bad to feel their coat to see how furry it was
(I imagine it to be as furry as a short-haired dog).
I watched in astonishment as,
They loomed around me, in a deceivingly slow manner,
I decided to watch them move.
I lost track of time, I forgot about all else.
Giant.
I chose awe.
Home
My bedroom
In my grandmother’s arms napping after lunch
I remember thinking that I never felt so cared for
I also remember thinking I should probably not sleep
To counteract jet lag.
I woke up three hours later.
Waking up at 3 A.M.,
This is a different time, as I am still wide awake,
And eating food my grandmother had made.
“Don’t you need sleep?”
“I can’t do that if you’ll be hungry.”
Home
I chose love
Poise,
Playfulness,
Awe,
Love,
My virtues,
How I choose to enjoy life,
How I choose to enjoy my feast.