At 2 a.m. I awaken with a sensation
I haven’t had in a week, a rumbly
in my tumbly, as Pooh sang,

rather than the struggling lower
digestives healing from infection
churning painfully.

And I rise, think what I might eat,
remember the split pea soup in
the fridge I’d made before all

this began, me the limited-ability
cook, which propels me slowly
to the kitchen. I find the little

container waiting and lift it
from its cold closet, locate a
small saucepan and scoop out

a ladleful, thinning it with
water, removing bits of carrot
that the recovering colon might

take issue with, and turn on
the flame. “Never microwave
homemade soup,” one of my

now-gone cooking mentors said,
joining me in the kitchen, so I don’t,
though I can’t remember why.

And then I sense my parents—
like me, cooking-impaired—
and my new saucepan

transforms into an old white
metal one rimmed in red,
my father at the stove, stirring

some kind of Campbell’s,
my mother smiling, and we all
stand in silence as I pour

the essence of pea into a small
white bowl. When I lift the spoon
for the first taste, I hear

the voice of the one who cooked
for me ages ago in this kitchen
say, “Atta girl, Toots. Easy now,”

as the companion spirits,
more arriving every second,
nod their approval.

And I feel my tumbly smile,
too, as the warm slips in,
quelling the rumbly.

•••

“Rumbly in My Tumbly” (written by the brothers Richard M. Sherman
and Robert B. Sherman) was first sung by Sterling Holloway as Pooh
in the 1966 animated Disney film, “Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree.”
You can watch the video here.