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relaxing in a hot tub of seaweed soup
nori and egg whites swirl
pork shoulder bobbing
translucent broth
cover my shoulders
lowering my chin to take a sip
chashu
roasted brick red
chunks hang plump
like apples on a chashu tree
seedless
warm and ripe
there for the picking
licking fingers
shamelessly
not even my own
homyu
pungent and fresh
melting in my mouth
with hot mustard and shoyu
whipped into circles
golden as Van Gogh’s Starry Night
new research finds:
homyu
fat free
sodium free
and lowers your
cholesterol
shrimp and lobster sauce
ladled thick on steaming rice
a priceless
chawan treasure
overflowing with
orange rubies
black bean pearls
and egg white satin
magically
the last shrimp
reappearing after every bite
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chicken chowmein
pan fried timelines
thread through
shiitake and china pea
weave and tie us
to our pioneer past
every glazed noodle
guaranteed to have
an issei on the other end
pakai
bell pepper and onion
witness the marriage
of pineapple and pork
with vinegar presiding
honeymooning
for seven days
and six nights
on a romantic
lazy susan
almond duck
cradled by lettuce
spruced up with nuts
born from hard times
scraps of duck meat
pressed between
heaven and earth
working peoples’
salvation--with gravy
my father says,
Almond Duck?
as hard to describe
as the grand canyon’s
beauty
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