A visit from The Healing Muse: 'The Zen of My Refrigerator'

Deirdre Neilen, PhD: Gail Hosking gives us a playful look into both her refrigerator and her character in her poem "The Zen of My Refrigerator."

I love emptying the leftovers

like the rest of fresh mint

into my ice tea, or

the parsley in meatloaf

I hope will last more than one night.

You with a little bit of mashed potatoes,

me with the one sweet potato tucked

in the back of the vegetable drawer.

The last of steak sauce for flavor.

I love adding a tomato or two

in the dal on the stove, an old onion

dropped into the pot. It's my hope

you'll finish the pudding too or

the local asparagus with its feathery

foliage. I'm not one for a new beginning

every night. I'm more the one that first

has to witness space, those empty

trays to give myself permission

to add more. Only then can I

consider other possibilities.

I pour the remaining sparkling water

into my glass, then the rest of the white wine,

stirring a bit of breathing room for the spirit

like a painting we aren't done with yet

or an inhalation of delicious air.