Break
two eggs
into a large bowl,
preferably a blue one.
Look down and see
them staring back at you,
their innocent embrace affirming
what must happen.
Now add salt (kosher salt is best,
being saltiest),
pepper, parsley (fresh,
snipped with scissors) to
remind you of the woods you’d like
to be in, a few flakes
of oregano, and a backhand pinch of garlic powder,
which tells you you are cooking.
Sometimes onions.
Tilt the bowl to favor gravity,
and, with a fork, whip
it all into a froth, a midget
ecosystem of delight.
You may here wish to remember
the perfect symmetry of childhood
mornings. Set
your dented, seasoned frying pan
with a light clang
over a high flame.
Wait until the pan is shining
with dark heat, then lower the flame.
Pour your brew into the pan, and listen.
The hiss is a reward.
Jog the pan in brief, determined arcs
above the flame to send your bubbly mass
in waves against the hot wall of the pan.
When little’s left to riffle outward from
the center, strike the pan at the handle’s base
with the butt end of a spatula or knife
to loosen what you’ve made from clinging metal.
Fold the settled, slightly moistened roundness gently
over, once from each side toward the middle, to create
a lozenge-of egg.
Flop it freely from the canted pan onto
a white plate.
Now you’ve finished.
If you’ve cooked it for your sweetie—
she having just arrived and there being nothing
in the house—you might want to please her
further by tossing on some parsley sprigs for color.
If it’s for yourself, forgo
such niceties, which only measure solitude.
Pick it up with both hands and begin.
