spooning

the spoon is the power to stir things up
the setter into action
the catalyst. 

it is also the provider
the life-giver
the guiding force. 

you must be fed before you can feed yourself. 
you must be shown the path before you can walk it. 

but spoon feeding soon must fold
so that we can each take hold
of our own internal implements of intake

to nourish ourselves of the beauty
flourishing on the shelves in the
plentiful pantry of this planet. 

but too easily the spoon of our mothers
becomes the spoon of career, of control
feeding our need for the symbols of stuff,
roughly emblematic of the empty material
we guzzle by the gallon. 

remember the mother-lessons:
one spoonful at a time,
chew carefully-- or choke

we must wait and be patient
lest we burn our tongues, our resolve, our self-expression
on the piping hot soup of our own passions

which we put together just this morning
with plenty of love and warming spices
in preparation for the long winter night ahead.