So the dish ran away with the spoon.
Although the dish prevailed,
what they didn’t tell us is
how the spoon escaped.
The spoon wanted more contrast.
That’s a fact. It’s also a fact
that juxtapositions are endless—
frying pans and bricks,
skillets and hammers,
the fluttering flags of small nations
and old books with titles printed in gold,
a shrine of three crosses
and used tablecloths,
family photographs badly faded
and benches with three legs,
frayed Indian rugs
and the remains of a stone terrace
and broken plates,
wrenches and nametags
and a pile of pine bark
and pigeon feathers.
Each has its contrasting harmony,
as with Cezanne’s apples and jugs.
Also, as with Cezanne,
if you don’t know what goes
with what, you leave it alone.