La cocina es memoria

Before the sun
climbs the park

Flushing Meadows, 6 a.m. — the cilantro is still cool with dew.

The discipline

Toast the cumin
till it smells like the fireplace

Top third of the stem only — the whole difference between bright and muddy.

Recado de cilantro

Let it rest an hour.
It needs the hour.

The way a memory needs time to become a story worth telling.