Why do you cook?
For art and skill, I said, savoring the sound
of the words, like tasting spices in the air,
to test their mingled bite and heat. To paint
with sauce-softened peppers red and green,
curry, cumin, turmeric gilding purple onions' crowns.
To build a base of eggplant, tofu, white rice, brown,
then garnish, carve, polish... I cook, I said, to create.
-Kelly Vaughan
March 2001