CHEFS

You can’t make masterpieces meals

if you faint in the face of fire,

it is more than the temperature

the oven swelters before you,

because it also demands

enduring the roasting

from verbal frying pans

who will analyze and dissect

each entrée you prepared.

 

One can be an expert

at knowing every cookbook’s recipes

able to skillfully manage

using every utensil of culinary need,

yet have hands paralyzed

and minds go blank with fear

over worrying how what is served

will be received.

 

Being consumed in anxiety

over taste bud opinions

so you can’t even bake

without more grief than joy.

 

When you make it to the best

of your talents and abilities,

knowing it is a gourmet repast

then the passion conquers

those nagging fangs

belonging to the reviewer’s mouth.

 

Nobody who can’t endure

all the burning from voices

will never have the stamina

to slave over a creation

until it becomes complete.