The blue-and-gray flowered set
of porcelain plates and bowls
in the glass case at the charity shop
offers two gravy boats lined up
next to place settings for eight.
Boats for both ends of a trestle table?
Country gravy on homemade biscuits.
An open-faced hot turkey sandwich
slathered thick? Or poutine
from Quebec ancestors’ brown gravy
on French fries and cheese curds?
Those dishes served a real family
who may have needed two boats –
warmed-up conversations
shared in the humidity of stirring
sherry into clotted gravy. Maybe
simmered accusations,
gossip and innuendos –
what begs
to end a meal with drizzled caramel
over hand-cranked ice cream
or sweet potato pie.
Said and done family feast,
predictable. Over with.
Back of cupboard
inherited boats
floating off to a glass shelf
for resale.
INSTANT NOODLES 