Omelette (guest omelet review)

by Steve Potter, editor of The Wandering Hermit Review

I want my omelette
made by an old cook
who has seen a thing or two of this world

not by some cherry-cheeked kid
who went to the Culinary Institute
fresh out of high school

not by some kid
who will beat the eggs too long
and add too much milk

so the omelette comes out weightlessly fluffy
garnished with parsley
and a curlicued slice of orange

I want my omelette
made by an old cook
who has seen a thing or two of this world

I want the hand
that holds the spatula
that flips my omelette

to have tattoos across the knuckles
spelling out a nickname
like Slappy or Cooky or Meatballs

I want my omelette
seasoned with memories
of some long ago barroom brawl

between soldiers and sailors
that spilled out the door onto a street
in Okinawa or Berlin

I want my omelette
seasoned with punched out teeth
and knife fight scars

I want my omelette
seasoned with memories
of a wartime whore in a foreign land

I want my Denver omelette
made by an old cook
who actually knew Denver

back when it was a dirt road town
full of drunken cowboys
and pool hall hustlers

I want my omelette
made by an old cook
who might’ve busted a railyard dick

upside the head
with a tire iron
outside a hobo camp

I want my omelette
made by an old cook
who has seen a thing or two of this world

it gets harder and harder
to find a cook like that
a cook who can season an omelette right

Steve Potter recently moved back to the east coast after twelve years in Seattle. His writing has appeared in print and online journals such as; Big Toe Review, Blue Collar Review, Drunken Boat, Freefall, Knock, Pindeldyboz, Rumble, Stringtown, The Temple and 3rd Bed. He edits and publishes the annual lit journal The Wandering Hermit Review and is in the process of starting Wandering Hermit Press.

Omelette previously appeared in Raven Chronicles