Cooking Lesson

p (Co-editor#39;s note--This wonderful piece was written by poet span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Sarahí" data-scaytid="9"Sarahiacute;/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Yajaira" data-scaytid="15"Yajaira/span.nbsp; I came across it through mutual friend, poet Marvin White via his Facebook page.nbsp; The piece made me think of food, and how it brings us together--how it beckons our ancestors and allows us to give thanks to them and acknowledge their presence.nbsp; POOR Magazine thanks span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Sarahí" data-scaytid="11"Sarahiacute;/span for allowing us to republish this piece from her blog.nbsp;To read more of her work, check out her blog:nbsp; a href="http://writingdistillslove.wordpress.com/"http://span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="writingdistillslove.wordpress.com" data-scaytid="1"writingdistillslove.wordpress.com/span//a.nbsp; Tony Robles--Co-Editor, POOR Magazine)/p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p emspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="jamas" data-scaytid="131"jamas/span le span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="niegues" data-scaytid="19"niegues/span anbsp;span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="alguien" data-scaytid="21"alguien/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="tres" data-scaytid="23"tres/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="cosas" data-scaytid="25"cosas/span:br / un span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="vaso" data-scaytid="27"vaso/span de span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="agua" data-scaytid="29"agua/span,nbsp;un span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="plato" data-scaytid="31"plato/span de span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="comida" data-scaytid="33"comida/span,br / el span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="uso" data-scaytid="35"uso/span de un span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="baño.”" data-scaytid="3"bantilde;o.rdquo;/span/embr / span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="-Doña" data-scaytid="37"-Dontilde;a/span Juananbsp;Rivera/p p nbsp;/p p in 1985./p p my emspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="abuela" data-scaytid="39"abuela/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="juana" data-scaytid="47"juana/span/em was a Mother.nbsp;to her eleven children, forty-six grandchildren and a little six-storynbsp;tenement building that sat in the middle of a span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="spanish" data-scaytid="49"spanish/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="harlem" data-scaytid="51"harlem/span, new span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="york" data-scaytid="53"york/span city block in the 12 orsquo;clock shadow of the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="taino" data-scaytid="55"taino/span towers./p p 218 e. span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="122nd" data-scaytid="57"122nd/span street./p p on span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="sundays" data-scaytid="59"sundays/span my emspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="abuela" data-scaytid="41"abuela/span/em cooked. and when i say she cooked, i mean she had the emspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="cucharones" data-scaytid="63"cucharones/span/em banging on emspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="calderos" data-scaytid="65"calderos/span,nbsp;el span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="horno" data-scaytid="67"horno/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="encendio’" data-scaytid="69"encendiorsquo;/spannbsp;/emmaking music in that kitchen to the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="rythmn" data-scaytid="71"rythmn/span of my aunts chatter and emspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="chismes" data-scaytid="73"chismes/span/em. while the men played emdomino/em talking emspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="pelota" data-scaytid="75"pelota/span y lorsquo; span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="yankis" data-scaytid="77"yankis/span o los span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="mets…" data-scaytid="79"metshellip;/span/emnbsp;and the kids ran up and down emspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="las" data-scaytid="81"las/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="escaleras" data-scaytid="83"escaleras/span./em/p p span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="sunday" data-scaytid="85"sunday/span was another way of saying family. if we werenrsquo;t at span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="randall’s" data-scaytid="89"randallrsquo;s/span island, we were at emspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="abuela’s" data-scaytid="91"abuelarsquo;s/span /emor at emspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Titi" data-scaytid="93"Titi/span Isabelrsquo;s. /embut cooking was happening. and so was eating. and Love./p p when it was time to eathellip; my grandma would lead us in prayer and she would always say something along the emldquo;hellip; y span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="95"que/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="aquellos" data-scaytid="99"aquellos/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="97"que/span no span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="tienen" data-scaytid="101"tienen/span de comer, span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="encuentren" data-scaytid="133"encuentren/span el span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="camino" data-scaytid="105"camino/span a mi span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="cocina.”" data-scaytid="5"cocina.rdquo;/span /em(hellip;and may those who donbsp;not have a meal, find their way to my kitchen)./p p cooking lesson 101: we are responsible for each other (blood related or not)./p p this isnbsp;something that has always stayed with ushellip; as the cousins have all grown older, we always tell each other, ldquo;stop by therersquo;s always a plate for one span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="more.”" data-scaytid="7"more.rdquo;/span and we remember emspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="abuela" data-scaytid="43"abuela/span./emnbsp;it was never a lesson that we werenbsp;taught in the sense of sitting us down to tell ushellip; it was just a natural way of nurturing./p p between the emspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="pernil" data-scaytid="107"pernil/span, el span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="pollo" data-scaytid="109"pollo/span, span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="arroz" data-scaytid="111"arroz/span con span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="gandules" data-scaytid="113"gandules/span, span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="ensalada" data-scaytid="115"ensalada/span de papa, y span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="escabeche" data-scaytid="117"escabeche/span de span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="mollejitas" data-scaytid="119"mollejitas/span/em we realized we had enough to fill our bellies and our hearts and those around us./p p hellip;yoursquo;d always see a few of us bringing somebody else. ldquo;this is my span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="amiga" data-scaytid="121"amiga/span from schoolhellip;rdquo; you didnrsquo;t even have to finishnbsp;saying her name, whonbsp;she was related to, hownbsp;shenbsp;got herehellip;nbsp;when she was already being handed a plate. and thennbsp;someone shouting, emspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="“quien" data-scaytid="123"ldquo;quien/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="falta" data-scaytid="125"falta/span de comer?rdquo; /em/p p emspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="abuela" data-scaytid="45"abuela/span /emfed more than just our bellies. she fed our hearts with a sense of responsibility that lives in each of us eighteen years after her physical body left us. but her presence is still present in our meals./p p feeding thenbsp;collective emspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="familia" data-scaytid="127"familia/span/emnbsp;is not just culturehellip; itrsquo;s a commandment. food is just food if it has no nourishment that goes beyond the one it provides the physical body.nbsp;emstrongnbsp;ifnbsp;you cannot feed the soul, donrsquo;t even bother to cook./strong/em/p p on span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="sundays" data-scaytid="61"sundays/span and every dayhellip; may i always feed souls./p p ~span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Sarahí" data-scaytid="13"Sarahiacute;/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Yajaira" data-scaytid="17"Yajaira/span, 2011 copy;/p p emwriterrsquo;s note: a special thanks to Marvin span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Bings" data-scaytid="129"Bings/span and Antonio Robles for inspiring my span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="sunday" data-scaytid="87"sunday/span muse./em/p