Home-Cooked Meal
“Come on over; I’ll make you a home-cooked meal,”
But “home-cooked” meals never really exist.
They always come from stiff recipes
Meant to mask the way the home cooks
On evenings when a tired waiter’s holding back
Tears after a day of dealing with humans
Who forgot that they’re one, too.
“Home-cooked” meals don’t tell the story
Of the mother eating the burnt leftovers
While her unaware children feast.
But I can read and follow fixed instructions, too —
I want you to make me a home-cooked meal.
Put your hair into a messy ponytail,
Substitute the wrong ingredients,
Show me the way you never quite mastered
Your grandmother’s signature dish
(The way she never mastered hers).
Forget to turn the timer off,
Use your stained plates.
I’ll take a cramped place at your table;
We’ll savor the failed result.
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Vitalia Strait is an aspiring writer currently pursuing a BA in English. Born and raised in Alaska, she has always been surrounded by beautiful inspiration, and intends to follow through on that calling as soon as she can find the time. You can find her on Instagram @vitaliastrait and Twitter @vsobaka05.