"An Ode to the Chefs"

from the Artmonk Retreat in the Mojave Desert, 2011

www.artmonastery.org/artmonk

To our beautiful chefs, Isa & Sarah

From Lizzie, with Love.

Hot chai, with milk and rooibos and spices, opening your eyes in the morning.

I didn't know about that.

And I didn't know how much I love cinnamon, or beets, or squash.

Until they showed me.

Or that broccoli, carrots, and olives can be friends.

I didn't know the full range or spectrum of the musical scale, 

Until they played it so beautifully.

Isa's the kind of woman who has a secret.

You know, because she giggles about it all the time.

And also: you can taste it.

It's a secret because ---

You can be in there with her.

Watching her with ordinary things.

Like eggplants and knives.

Cinnamon and lentils.

Blenders and pineapples.

Things you've seen before.

Things you think you know.

But you don't know anything at all.

Because then Isa comes out with *magic*.

Magic,

Mouthful,

Morsel,

Munching,

Crunching,

Punctuating with Flavor,

Heaving with Life,

Bursting with the Universe in each spoonful.

Crying out for you to Listen.

To Pay Attention.

Isa has a secret helper named Sarah. 

She's a quiet little minx, and

Together they make their mischief and magic.

They chop and whisper,

Stir & sigh,

Hold for warmth & 

Help us savor & 

Taste & Feel & Be.

They help us to Be,

To Be better.

To Live more.

To leave Fuller, 

Enriched, Sustained, Supported. 

Loved.

Can you reach Enlightenment in a single meal?

Can one mouthful change the world?

I don't know --- you'll have to ask your belly

As it's heaving with delight, 

Nourished and Nurtured all over again.

As I travel myself through emptiness to fullness yet again,

Watching cycles repeat on the mat,

In my body, 

In my breath,

In my thoughts,

In our world.

I sit here, silently, with a 

Mouth full, and a 

Heart full, and a 

Room full of Love.

And I know this will pass, too. 

This bite, this life,

This breath, this moment,

This thought, this poem.

Running their courses through me,

Bite by bite

Bit by bit,

Step by step,

Breath by Breath.

And just when you think this bite is too much,

There's too much flavor, 

Too much intensity, 

Too many things going on in one exquisite, 

Miraculous thunder...

It's over.

And you wait for the next bite, the next meal, 

the next thought, the next experience,

the next love, 

the next life to arise.

Isa & Sarah's art changed my life.

They opened my eyes, to see in new ways,

To taste with my ears and smell with my mouth.

To take in the fullness, the richness, 

That maybe was there all along but 

Amplified by their Love, the Kindness, their Thought, their Attention.

Ordinary into Extraordinary.

Ingredients into Full-Meal-Experiences.

Two women into Witches, Minxes, Magicians,

Of the most wonderful, beautiful kind.

I wanted to tell you all week --- 

But that's the thing about silent retreats.

So I'll just tell you once, now, 

For every mouthful all week long ----

Thank you.

Thank you.

I can't wait to be hungry again.