Beginning on the phone,

Then as your internet profile forecast

Even before we met

In the sun on a beach,

Our first conversations were like

Two cups of chopped onions

Lightly sauteed in extra virgin olive oil,

A handful of teaspoons of minced ginger root,

Two more of minced jalapeno,

Four cans of small black beans drained,

A couple more of tomatoes diced,

Fresh cut corn kernels from a half dozen ears,

A flower petal’s throw of chopped pimento,

All folded into two-thirds of a cup

Of equal measures of light brown sugar and honey.

We added a teaspoon of thyme,

Simmered thirty minutes

In a covered iron skillet on the stove,

Then baked a half hour more,

And served it in a two-quart ceramic bowl

On its matching platter

To catch the almost

Certain overflow.

Hendrik Gideonse is a retired educator living in Brooklin.