Where onions are chopped
Making tears flow
Where karapincha sizzles in hot oil
Getting ready to drown in a delicious curry
Men don't belong here
Where food is cooked and served
By the women
The women who run the kitchen
The household
The unappreciated backbone
Forgotten engine
Men don't belong here
Where they eat as much as they can
Without caring if there's enough food for everyone
Complain there isn't enough salt
The food isn't warm enough
Chicken instead of fish would have been better
And then belch
Proud of how loud they are
Just men being men
And then they wash their hands
Watch a little TV
Go to bed content
Not for a second wondering who will
Wash all the pots and pans
Plates and spoons
That are piled high in the kitchen sink
Men don't belong in the kitchen
Because that's where women belong
Where they cook and clean and
Eat only what's left over
Even though their stomachs scream for food
Just as loudly as their feet scream for rest
And a boy
Too young to know where he doesn't belong
Asks his mother
If he can cook that day
Although he doesn't even know
How flour and coconut and water and salt
Turn into hot hot roti
He does know that
His mother is tired
Too tired to cook
But she says to him
Don't worry about it
I'll make dinner for us all
Go and do your homework
And anyway
Men don't belong in the kitchen
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