A Culinary Conceit?

This won't count towards Form Fridays, so I still have to write another before the day's end.  Fine by me.

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NPM #18

"Red Pepper Flakes"

 

They look like fish food.

Flat, irregular shapes

I can’t even taste on my tongue. 

The only proof that they’ve been there

are the tiny puffs of smoke

emitted by angry taste buds.

 

Maybe I just like the color?

 

But if they rest for a while in a soup or a stew,

if left to their own devices

atop a roast

in a hot box

over a low flame…

Something altogether different happens.

 

Maybe some of us are never meant to be the center of attention.

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I was thinking I should have stopped after "Maybe I just like the color?"  I don't want to force a playful poem of observation into having some universal message.  Should they just be two different pieces?  I don't know yet, but that's what rewriting and editing are for.