Begin with forgetting, extinguish desire,
practice not wanting for half an hour
every morning, practice forgetting
the hand cradled under the nape
of your neck, mouth to your mouth’s kiss,
but remember, no matter what you do, one
desire will remain. Hunger is the first and
last word. When all words in California
slide into the sea, hunger will be the last
to fall. Should they all plunge out of the sky
in flames, hunger burns the brightest.
This is what you must do: go buy some
yellow stick, don’t bother with butter
or margarine, yellow stick will do, nothing
comes cheaper by the pound and it melts.
That’s the point. Buy a yam. This will cost
thirty-seven cents which you can find at
the bottom of your purse or under your couch.
Pay attention to the name of the yam—
red jewel or ruby or red garnet. Sometimes
the ad names the land of its origin. If you
don’t know, imagine this place, say, Livingston,
California, on a floodplain. Imagine the soil,
sandy or clay, porous or heavy, and the yams
underneath reaching for each other, the erotic
longing of tuber for tuber. This feeds you also.
Heat the oven. Warmth is a kind of food.
While it’s cooking, stroke your chest along
the bony ridge of the breastplate down to the
wishbone. Stand by the heat. When the yam
is ready, it splits open on its own. Wait until
the sugar begins to burn on the oven wall.
Then it’s perfect. Let the yellow stick slide
into a pool. This waiting can nourish you.
Now eat it in small bites, vermilion on a cold
night. In between bites, say it’s enough.
Imagine the yam is hungry for the inside
of you. Close your eyes. Picture yourself
clothed in red silk. You can eat the winter
night, dissolve it into the yam to a perfect
temperature. Imagine a volcano throws
out a vein of hot water at one-hundred-
eighty degrees from the side of a mountain.
These springs belong to you. Imagine the wind
is blowing and you are not cold because the wind
belongs to you. Imagine you are standing in a mine
full of rubies and each gem licking along the length
of the dark vein warms you. Imagine all this
dissolved into the yam which is yours. It will be
enough. But be careful, if you do it too often, any
one who sets out food will be able to tame you.