Recipe for a Homunculus

A pinch of cornstarch, splash of lemon juice
as if for stubborn sauces that won't thicken:
stir and let ingredients reduce.
Hermetic subtle processes will quicken
base materiél to emanate
its soul, a substance held both rare and noble.
Dinner can go hang. You contemplate
the swirling simmer of the Primum Mobile--

oops! You've scorched the mixture. Scrub the pot.
Today you won't produce homunculi
so next time, take more care and keep an eye
on temperature control. And if this lot
has failed in yield, it's not a total loss:
it gives a little body to your sauce.

--for Read Write Poem

Collection available! Knocking from Inside