Solitude

by Portia Choi

      Solid-tude:
      Sitting still
      Breathing in,
      Breathing out,

      Enraptured glow.

      A lone zinnia in a vase.

Zinnias bought from a farmer with strawed teeth in overall
   standing next to pick up truck
At Farmer's Market
   of basil: shouting green on a table or red, red tomatoes;
   mounds of string beans, peaches, apriums, and purple potatoes.

At home: dicing and stir-frying zuchini, eggplants in Korean oyster sauce
   sparkled with Mediterranean basil,
   served on a dining room table for family and
   a friend who had given me plastic bag of cumin and
   a recipe for East Indian lentil curry,

Connected like brussel sprouts on a stalk of being.

Published in Primary Point