Don’t worry, Margaret.
I have washed my hands
and chopped today’s
right-out-of-your-garden
vegetables and flower petals
on the wooden butcher’s block
per your SOP.
I have not snuck beef, chicken
or fish broth into the soup
contrary to your specific instructions
not to include the least speck
of the dead flesh of animals.
No additives or nitrites, MSG,
preservatives, sulfates,
or any of that other junk.
Strictly sea salt.
I promise not to chainsaw the hot,
just out of the oven,
multigrained,
legume and nut bread
until at table.
Funny, I once skimmed
dust blown from a latrine
on the Cambodian Border
from the surface
of brackish water
in my canteen cup,
and I’m still here!
As for that expensive sack
of herbs and supplements
you swear by,
those potions and bromides
have been marketed
since witchdoctors.
The old timers called them,
“Snake oil.”
It’s okay, Margaret.
Everybody’s going to die,
no matter what they finger,
ingest or inhale.
That’s not marketing.
It’s called SCIENCE!