Day 28: Eat; The Gourmet (circa Dec 2014)

Ham on the grill.
Just like Grandpa down south used to make.
A man remembers as a boy
secret torn off
tastes passed from scalding fingers
Perfunctory cooling puffs
breaths of caution.

Nostalgia for trial pieces of manhood
dispensed like illegible recipes
scribbled on stained index cards
The gist remains but
so do the holes and questions.
Meal by meal
the "burnt ends" of the past
unwittingly pass down tradition.

Tidbits of history,
morsels of legacy,
partial explanations,
unraveled genetic code.

One by one their lives resigned to photographs
relying solely on his interpretation in the retelling.
Change and time and death and distance.
Each bite a nostalgic consolation
fills you with home.