Poetry: "Ramen"

RAMIN

boil two cups of water in a sauce pan

add the noodles and cook three minutes

stir occasionally

turn off heat, drain excess water

add content of seasoning packet

stir

serve immediately for best results

and that’s how you make

Top Raman

Chop up some hot dogs and throw it in the pot

Cause that’s my shit

Fuck using the stove when you can microwave it in a bowl

Cause that’s my shit

Find the bottle of hot sauce to spice it up a bit

Cause that’s my shit

No need to wash dishes either cause you can crush it up in the bag

Shit, now that’s the mo’ fucking shit

Eating Top Ramen three times a day, every day, seven days a week

Cause mom has no money and that’s all we can afford to eat

Ain’t that some shit

In our house top ramen was the only father figure

The only person putting food on our table

While mom’s just working to keep the lights on

Sense the money was as absent as dad was

There was no hope left

The last ounce of essence she had left ,was crushed into a powder

and sealed in a tin foil package

so when you pour it in the mix

it shows the true meaning of soul food

injured by budget cuts so deep

that mom would stock our cabinets with 24 packs of orange and red

first aid survival kits

she was strong like ramen strait out the package

but every time she’d reach her boiling point

she would go into her room and release her tears into her pot of insecurities

so we never see her soft side

knowing that the tears she shed make the green in you pockets

go a little bit faster…

if you just add water

and the noodles would swell up like your face after you get done crying

strain all the water out, and your left with something so beautiful

how can a man leave someone so beautiful

but the tears keep coming back

how can something so beautiful come from the worst thing that can happen to you

and our mailbox gets filled with

numerous monthly statements instead of child support checks

I know it’s hard

To always feed us top ramen

Feeding us the chicken noodle soup of your soul

Even if you where sick or tired

We are sick and tired

Of your watered down stories telling us everything is going to be all right

But its all gunna be all right mama

Cause I know all about your beef with the bill collectors

And I know that I’m but a shrimp compared to your problems

But you would never be contingent to tell us what’s going on

Cause you knew that your shit can only make my noodles taste nasty

Mom raised us with the intention of us being raw men

So every night she would pray with a face full of tears

And prey to god that we can be men

And that our stomachs are never empty

She would slave through her graveyard shifts every night so she can make her zeros

Staring into the night sky singing of her super hero

Except I never had a super hero

We never had a super hero

Going through childhood in a broken home, this soup is our hero

It’s name is top ramen

Full of the power packed msg

Which never stood for

Mono sodium glutamate

But stood for

Mom stayed grinding

And also when it comes down to us

it stands for

She made us something great

And finally it stood for

My souls gratification

So this is an ode to you

Presented in a bowl like needles in a compass

Which was seasoned with by the seasons

You spent encompassed by the struggles of us

So take this hot soup as homage

Thanks mom, my childhood was delicious