Nourishment

Eating is touch carried to the bitter end

-Samuel Butler II

Today I will pickle beets and spice pears,

tear thyme from its threads and dive

into buckets of tomatoes meant for sauce.

I’ve already dried beans and saved seed

and baked granola in the spirit of these small things.

If eating is touch carried to the bitter end

then I will preserve each colorful caress in

mason jars and earthen crocks. I will can contentment

in kimchi, jar joy in raspberry jam, and save that soft

finger dance on the back of my neck for the peach

salsa. And not even eat them

for a while, just let them sit like juicy testaments

to a summer of feasting from the earth.