I listen to poetry at work

 

I listen to poetry at work. As I pour over column of debits and credits placing customer stories into accounts, I read poetry as I construct the continuing narrative of the company. Revenues less expenses equals net income. It’s not my income, it’s the taxable income of the business owner. It becomes his story. I am overhead. I am one of his expenses. Accounts payable, accounts receivable is essentially all I do fifty weeks of the year. In college, I checked out my textbooks from the library of the blind and dyslexic. I read through my ears, because my ears do not always hear what you do.

This evening I conjured up a delicious treat based on how I used to eat my peppers when I went out for Pho. At the authentic Vietnamese, I usually argue with the waiters on how many stars I can handle a dish. When I order curry I like it fifteen stars and I know when they make a three. When I next go in I say can you please make it a fifteen, because that last fifteen you made for me felt like a three. I like to watch their eyes pop as they watch a white man eat one-cup volume wise of jalapeno peppers sliced thin. I used to dumb down their heat by squeezing the fluid of lime provided on them. But after a week I stopped doing that. I don’t put them in the soup. I like the experience of the oils burning my lips. It takes at least twenty slices to gain this effect. I usually tell them I don’t feel the spice till the next day. It’s the next day after burn ring sting that I seek. A turbocharged blastoff of heat. I like to squirm a little bit. I don’t like these blameless tame days. You gotta consume a little or lot of spice to heat up the movements of the day. Maybe if I were married and my partner lashed me with her tongue like a flail with bits of glass tied into the strands over some thing I did to annoy her, I wouldn’t want to eat as much spice as I do. Maybe then I would crave a regular bland American meal. You take three or four peppers, depending on size, and cut them up really fine. Then squeeze one-to-two limes all over them in a jar or dish. Add a few leaves and stems of cilantro. To fully immerse the peppers add a splash of Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar with the Mother and a drop or two of orange juice. Let the mixture mature for a few hours and you have a delicious not too spicy desert.

---1/13/2010