Pepper-Side Down (By Christopher Watkins)

Just in time for Valentine's Day, LENNDEVOURS' Poet Laureate, Christopher Watkins presents a piece about the joys of pairing wine with chocolate.

Pepper-Side Down
By Christopher Watkins

Suspend disbelief for the moment

to watch her fine white hands

and slender fingers

twist the shining silver

of the grinder;

Be patient, study

the coarse grains on the blanched

white circle of your plate,

each as different

as a blackened snowflake;

Let your tongue

touch the moist crease

at the joining of your lips

as she lets the peat-brown square of chocolate

down onto your napkin;

Listen now, listen

as she tells you what to do—

Your eyes, be they brown,

blue, or gray, don't leave the dark recesses

of her fine Italian eyes,

the blue at the long ends of the tunnels,

you're staring at them as she talks,

guiding the chocolate and your tongue

towards one another—

"Lick one side of the chocolate,"

and you do it, eyes

still on her face,

almost slow motion...

"Dip the wet side in the pepper,"

and you do it, eyes

still on her face,

almost slow motion...

You have your wine glass in your hand,

you drink when she tells you to.

My God, you think,

orange chocolate and freshly ground organic pepper,

what has this woman done to me?

"Have another sip of wine,"
and you do it, converted.

Comments

[farley]

Nice. From someone who calls herself a winepoet, despite not writing any wine poetry in quite a while.