Sorrow's Kitchen

("I been in sorrow's kitchen and I licked the pots clean"--Gullah)

The monster's name was "I Can Eat It"
and I'll tell you for certain
I tell only the truth
He ate all the cookies
Devoured the crackers
and washed down the crumbs
with poorboy-berry juice

Munching clean to the bone
of the fish and the fowl
he came back in a little
not very long while
And licked to the bottom my pot
full of dreams my pot full of wishes and dreams

Cheryl K. Hellner was a member of the Writers' Group of the Church of the Saviour in Washington, D. C. when this poem appeared. Her poems "Slow Walk It" and "Sing!" were published in the February, 1982 Sojourners.