Not one or two but several layers
of complicated tastes and fragrances—
cassia and anise, coriander, fennel,
fenugreek: why can’t sugar be sweet
and salt be itself, even bitterness
be green distilled from herbs
grown hardscrabble in the soil?
Sometimes, I want the straight-
forward thing, no break hinged
between skin and seam.
Sometimes I want the flat side
of paper, not anymore its curl.
—Luisa A. Igloria
10 08 2011