Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BLACK KITCHEN, by MARJORIE ALLEN SEIFFERT


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BLACK KITCHEN, by                    
First Line: Down around the kitchen
Last Line: That nobody ate.
Alternate Author Name(s): Cypher, Angela; Hay, Elijah
Variant Title(s): Ballad Of The Black Kitchen
Subject(s): Cooking & Cooks


Down around the kitchen
The old cook shuffles;
Out on the back porch
A black hound snuffles.

A cockroach waits
In the basement shady;
Dinner is cooking
For a gentleman and lady.

Food in a dark heart,
Hunger in a wish --
The cook stirs the kettle
And serves up the dish.

"Come, pretty lady,
Come to the table!
Eat, fine gentleman,
Eat if you are able!

"This isn't food
For any common boarder --
I cooked this meal
To your special order!"

Looking at the black stew,
Both turn pale.
"I ordered cherries --"
"And I ordered quail!"

The cook says: "Madam,
I beg your pardon --
There's no more cherries
Down in the garden.

"And surely you know, sir,
Quail is out of season --
What you order
Must be in reason!"

They look at the food
With querulous fear:
"What are you serving us
That looks so queer?"

"You know best
The meat you carve --
Food from your heart,
Eat or starve!"

Thoughts they have hidden
Far out of sight
Come crawling to their eyes
And blink in the light.

Nervously the diners
Begin to speak,
And his voice thickens
And her voice is weak.

"We're not very hungry --"
"It's quite all right --"
"We don't care for dinner --"
"At least, not tonight!"

The hungry cockroach
Scuttles in and waits;
The hound comes whining
To lick the plates.

Says Cook: "Set the platter
Down on the floor,
So my second-table boarders
Need wait no more

But feast together;
For the platter is wide
Where Fear and Lust
Feed side by side."

Food in a dark heart,
Hunger in a wish,
Poison in the kettle
And death on the dish.

Some go hungry,
And some are fed,
And some lie silent
In a dark cold bed,

Dreaming of heaven,
And a golden plate
With cherries and a quail
That nobody ate.





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