Poem: "The Kitchen Goddesses"

[ysabetwordsmith]

This poem is from the August 7, 2012 Poetry Fishbowl.  It was inspired by prompts from ravan, moonwolf1988, and rhodielady_47.  It has been sponsored by scribble_myname.

The Kitchen Goddesses

Caffeina holds a coffee bean
above her head with two hands,
while her other two hands
hold a coffee pot and a coffee mug.
Her black hair ripples down
over her copper skin,
her smile pale as latte foam.

Chocolata is lighter,
skin the color of milk chocolate
and curls the color of dark chocolate,
teeth square as little marshmallows.
She holds a candy bar, a cookie,
a cup of cocoa, and a Tootsie Roll wand.

Nilla is fair as a fairy-tale princess,
all peaches-and-cream skin
with hazel eyes pale as almond honey
and white-blond hair but oh,
those spiral curls never came out of Europe.
In her hands she holds
a vanilla bean and vanilla wafers,
a carton of ice cream and a scoop.

They are the kitchen goddesses,
patron deities of jungle goodness;
every table and countertop is their altar
and everyone worships the rulers of food.

They do not advertise themselves
as entheogens anymore --
but what's in a name, what's in a label? --
Their power remains as true as ever,
pressed between the bitter and the sweet,
the equator and the pole.
Every taste is a kiss
that may wake the sleeper within.