The kitchen filled with heady perfume

Sweet cumin and star anise

Aromatic fennel and mace

                Black gold brought back on steamers

                Opulent saffron – sensual gossamer strands

                Sumptuous vanilla – pod lithe and supple speaking of seed and semen

The crackle and snarl of the spice trade

Hits the fiery smoke of the dry copper pan

Producing hedonistic piquancy

                Nutmeg brought back

                To halt Gods pestilence

                Pungent ginger for men

                To lie with another

The meat lays down its final flight

Landing skin side down in the torturous heat

Crisping instantly and turning rose to milk

                Cortez and Culpepper

                Alaric and the Pharisees

                Of clippers and cayenne

The cream and the sea

The tide and the turn

The heat dies down

Leaving questions with no answers.