Cooking the News

JAN SEALE

April 29, 2020

Time was, we tripped out at dawn,

bent down and brought the news,

neatly rolled and thrown by a stranger,

to the porch, the hall, the couch.

Now we do the same fetch and carry,

this time handling the column of print

with sterile cloth. Inside, another cloth

releases the rubber band. Jigger of water

in place (used another time in pleasure)

and we’re ready. Snapping the door

of the microwave, we bid the news

a small goodbye, wishing such an act

could hold more universal power.

The heated facts grow ready in two

30-second primes. When the bell dings,

the words come hot off the press

a second time, fragrant with

the odor of new ink, breathless

for us to read, but carefully, carefully,

until the news cools down.

JAN SEALE is the 2012 Texas Poet Laureate. Her forthcoming book A Lifetime of Words will be published this year by Lamar University Literary Press. She lives in McAllen, Texas, and is eating lots of vegetables and fruit from the spring crops of U.S. and Mexican farmers unable to supply their regular markets.