Recipe for a Samoan Breakfast

Pass the knife

Throw four slabs of butter

The bread tastes of cardboard

Yet we’re grateful to catch the fresh ones

Pass the plate

Dump two cans of coconut milk

The taro look like stones

But we smile for no itch on our tongue

Pass the bowl

Mix pure cocoa and rice

Smells bitter and blackens out teeth

Though we laugh and pray for this blessing

With fish dancing on the pan

And the chef as a Chinese man

Who wouldn’t want a Samoan dish in the morning?

DeAnna English: Samoa, 2014