Waiting for coals;
the charcoal is still just warm.
Oh, there is intense heat
at the bottom of the stack,
but it needs to spread throughout
and proffer a red and white glow
that hollers “Caution!”
(Note: never work a grill barefoot.)

Dense protein awaits its ultimate fate.
It is a timeless custom, this
cooking of meat.
My ancestors, not so long ago
did not view this as recreation,
it was simply the way of it.
Today, men view grilling as a sacred right.
To the Old Ones it was women’s work.

We’ve come a long way.
Nowadays “women’s work”
is anything a man can do.
Nowadays men gather firewood, too,
and roll out household garbage
and harvest grass to compost.
We even have bottles to mimic breastfeeding.
That high-pitched whine?

The Old Ones are spinning in their tombs.
Let ‘em spin.

(top: cookingonthetrail.wordpress.com; bottom: paleyphoto.photoshelter.com)