Ode to the Salad Spinner

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                                                                           for Diane

Here is the center of the circle
And here we are, traveling away
From the center. If God is real

Then God created this whirlpool
Force. O, my love, we spin
Away from each other 

When we leave home for work
Then we spin back to our table
At the end of the shift. My love,

My spouse, you are my center,
And here we are at dinner
With the lettuce and tomato.

How ordinary! But I praise
And praise these ordinary days.
This knife, this cup, this salad!

Hahahahahahahahahhahahaha!
It’s just salad. How simple.
But I give the most praise

To these simple days
When we tell the stories
About this or that.

It’s not the words that matter.
It’s the listening.
Talk to me, my love,

Remind me again and again
That everything we are now
Began at that moment

When we were strangers
Greeting each other
For the first time. 

“Hello,” you said. “Hello,” I said.
We didn’t know the force
Of our impending devotion

Would push us against the tender
Walls of the universe
Then pull us back to the center.

My love, we have shared
Thousands of meals
And we’ll share thousands more.

So I give thanks for the tomato, 
Onion, carrot, radish, pine nut,
Oil, vinegar, and lettuce leaf.

I give thanks for our creation.
I give thanks for everything
That’s bright, centrifugal, and green.

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