Whoever you are: some evening, take a step
out of your house, which you know so well
Enormous space is there, your house lies where it begins
Whoever you are

Your eyes find it hard to tear themselves
from the sloping threshold. With your eyes,
slowly, slowly, lift one black tree
up so it stands against the sky, skinny and alone

With this you have made the world
The world, which is like a word
still growing in the silence
In the moment that your will grasps it
your eyes, feeling its subtlety, will leave it

All of you undisturbed cities,
haven’t you ever longed for the Enemy?
I would like to see you besieged by him
for ten endless and groundshaking years

Until you were desperate and mad in suffering
finally, in hunger, you would feel his weight
He lies outside the walls like the countryside
He knows very well how to endure
longer than those he comes to visit

Climb up on your roofs and look out:
his camp is there. His morale will not falter
His number will not decrease, he will not weaken
He sends no one into the city to threaten
or promise and no one to negotiate

He is the one who breaks down the walls
and when he works, he works in silence.

The first time I made this, it was simply a variation on black bean and corn salad which also included watermelon because I had a little bit which needed to go. The watermelon worked so stunningly well in the recipe, adding crisp freshness while totally absorbing the flavors of it, that I decided it was more important than the corn.

This works very well if you have bits of watermelon that are not up to par for eating because they’re insufficiently sweet or have been hanging around in the fridge long enough that they’ve picked up too many other flavors to be eaten plain. Or, if you’re just sick of eating watermelon, but it’s not gone yet.

Black Bean & Watermelon Salad

2 cans (about 3 cups) black beans, drained and rinsed
1-2 cups watermelon, small dice
1/2 med. red onion, small dice (about 1 cup)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cajun spice blend*
2 Tblsp. lemon or lime juice
1 avocado, diced
1/2 chipotle pepper, minced + ~1/2 tsp of the adobo from the pepper can.
couple of cranks of black pepper
(fresh cilantro to taste)

Throw all this in a bowl and mix ‘er up. Best if it gets a chance to ripen in the fridge for a few hours.

*About my cajun spice blend: I first made this for making jambalaya and catfish, but I cannot speak to the authenticity of it. Regardless, I use it for so many things and have remade it several times since. I should figure out the proportions of stuffs and post it but here’s what it includes: black pepper, cumin, fennel seed, thyme, smoked paprika, smoked salt, garlic powder, and red pepper flakes.