"Dear Ms. Curry Paste"

Dear Ms. Curry Paste
   I see that for you the end is near…

Your bright green label,
   once glowing and nutritionally informative,
   has long since fallen,
   through the endless chilly days and evenings
   in my refrigerator.

Or I should say, multiple refrigerators,
   as you have served me gallantly for nearly a decade.
The magnitude of your flavor measured in milligrams,
   not ounces
And stimulates, more like awakens
   foods that prefer to slumber
   and have no wish to dazzle,
   like tofu, eggs, and zucchini.

Yes, you have witnessed
   my kitchen cuts of Hitchcockian proportions,
   burning bagels screaming Mayday, Mayday!
   Herculean mattress swaps onto a precarious loft
   circus shows by roving bands of foxes in my backyard,
   the death of my two rescue cats,
   my mold-induced dead-of-night evacuation
      from a previous home,
   and the dissolution of a mercurial relationship.

All the while staying true to your mission—
   to remind me of the true power of hot flavor
   and knowing when to let a dish coast atop steely heat.

Rest assured Ms. Curry Paste,
   your resting place will be in an honorable
   and carbon neutral tomb,
Recycling all of your culinary triumphs
   and my pan-fried dreams
As I welcome in a new
   Ms. Curry Paste. 

February 2022

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©2022, Michael Smolens