By Button Poetry
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Asia Samson, performing at The Kroxon in Miami, FL.
Transcript provided by YouTube:
00:01
as any member of my family how to
00:04
prepare a particular dish and I
00:06
guarantee you won’t get an exact recipe
00:07
case any point once while attempting to
00:11
decipher the scribbles my father gave me
00:13
on how to make pork adobo I called him
00:16
to find out how much vinegar to add to
00:18
the soy sauce and he replied oh you know
00:20
you know what the is that supposed
00:23
to mean fifty years to realize even he
00:28
didn’t know the answer the recipe was my
00:30
grandmother’s and she was known for her
00:32
cooking and not for her clarity her
00:34
answers were always elusive and quick
00:36
like her words were fugitives trying to
00:38
outrun time in the past was quickly
00:40
sniffing out her trail case in point
00:42
once when her children kept pressing her
00:44
for the truth about their father’s
00:45
disappearance without fail she simply
00:47
turned over in her deathbed and said
00:49
okay that’s enough years as we later to
00:53
rest but good luck trying to convince my
00:54
father to doing that the muscles
00:56
hardened because he’s still trying to
00:58
pry the secrets she died touching
00:59
between those cooking hands he continues
01:01
to stir the pot searching for his father
01:03
like a missing page in a cookbook like
01:05
there was a picture
01:06
followed by instructions but he stopped
01:08
knowing what to do after a certain point
01:10
and that we take us with a recipe
01:11
hell-bent on making his own family look
01:14
as perfect as that picture as if nothing
01:16
will ever taste right until it does I
01:17
can’t figure any more sugar I heard he
01:20
was fasting in Manila her synagogue was
01:22
never at this hour I’m not sure someone
01:24
can track him down I just want to know
01:25
what this is missing I just want to know
01:27
what happened that this tastes like
01:28
parts to you do you think he left
01:30
because of us is it was I not good
01:33
enough I asked him if it matters that
01:36
much if the truth our refrigerator doors
01:39
that ones open or shed of light on his
01:40
own shortcomings and he’s
01:42
the truth won’t be easy to digest but
01:44
how could he know if he’s done his best
01:46
as a father without a point of reference
01:47
so I tell him fatherhood is no different
01:50
than the recipes he gave me
01:51
it’s criminally and messy we make of it
01:53
what we can throw it against the wall
01:54
and see what sticks and the truth is
01:56
between his and my grandmother’s cooking
01:58
I actually prefer his because as epic as
02:01
her dishes were to me they are just
02:03
memories now but yours your father still
02:05
lingers in my mouth
02:06
you’ve done well with the ingredients
02:07
you’ve been given you’ve done well with
02:09
keeping us full enough with the careful
02:11
measures enough for the chastening of
02:13
ghosts enough for the lighting of stoves
02:15
trying to hold the flame to your
02:16
mother’s greatness because even she will
02:18
tell you that the most flavorful life
02:20
was always makin tastehh
02:21
she will tell you that her recipes were
02:23
fade because they were never meant to be
02:25
obeyed she will tell you that our family
02:27
may not look as perfect as that picture
02:28
but God then we created something pretty
02:31
spectacular anyway we still insist okay
02:33
I will confess this when I was 12 years
02:38
old she brought me into the kitchen and
02:40
taught me how to cook the signature
02:41
sweetie fried rice taught me how to cook
02:43
it to taste exactly like hers pretty
02:46
sure she knew immediately one day so
02:48
I’ll show you how to make it a complete
02:50
and detailed recipe a little bit of
02:53
heard has been left untouched people
02:55
hope you can fill that void people hold
02:58
dear father it’s enough
03:04
you
03:04
[Music]
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This post was previously published on YouTube.
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Photo credit: Screenshot from video