The Quicaillerie de mi Alma

I love enamelled pots and pans
Speckled blue bowls and cups
Kettles whistling on the home range,
Coffee singing: Don’t fence me in.
J’aime le fer blanc : Hachoir.
Passoire. Bouilloire. Cafetière.
J’aime les carrées rouges et blancs
dans la cuisine de Bonne Maman.
Me gusta una buena paellera,
y una cuchara de madera
marron y negra de los sabores
en la cocina de mi Abuela.
Y una caldera, y un sarten
Casserole et poêlon
Terrine and cake tin
Mortar and Pestle
Bread bowl and sauce boat
Chopper and crusher
Smelling of garlic.
Seasoned with age and oil
and the memory of marvelous meals.
In the language of my
kitchen, mi cocina, ma cuisine,
where form and function meet
I see only beauty.

Tina Pisco
“The Quicaillerie de mi Alma” is from She be (Bradshaw Books, 2010).