Sweet Cream-Coated Mashed Potatoes {Poem}

I stopped today

closed screens down today

tasted sweet cream-

coated mashed potatoes

and peas and beans and fish

dance across my teeth

and tastebuds today. 

Consuming no words of war,

not even pleas for peace

as I noticed, in silence

the dinner leftover

the way it swished and squished

and nourished me. 

I chewed and chewed

until the stew

slowly moved its way through;

down my throat, into my belly

and my body settled,

quiet and still as it filled.

I wondered:

how much of my food

do I miss?

How often

does my mind take off

to other times;

times past, imagined

but not this.

This moment

these gifts

pass by in one blink

of an eye;

And so I vow

to take pause, to recognize

the simple beauty

of just this

and this and this

of each breath, each bite

each blessing that exists.

Written by Gillian Florence Sanger