Pap

Boil'd P-Nuts, the rickety road signs proclaim on every backwoods highway.

Peanuts stewing in an ancient brine, a pot that has been in continuous use for years of boiling. The hominy cooks slow and is creamed to grits with a measure of butter to further soften the corn. Our barbecue shreds at a touch and the okra slides down the gullet, a smooth swallow of green.

There is no need to chew here. The collards can be torn by tongue and the meat can be sucked from each bone. And oh, how the smoked mullet falls apart in your mouth, salty and succulent. Sweet tea will wash down any last morsels that trouble you. Just sip the whiskey and swallow the biscuit softened in sausage gravy, where the bits of meat are far too small to notice.

You'll not be needing those teeth no longer. Just sip the whiskey.

~Kristen Gilpin 4.7.15