The title "Reduction" is a cooking term, and the poem plays with it: boil something long enough and you're left with a concentrated essence. The first stanza suggests that pleasure works this way. It starts out humble and unfinished, "powder" and a "lax fire," a slow, low heat rather than a blaze. Nothing dramatic is happening, but something is getting underway.
The second stanza turns warm and funny. The speaker speaks to a "ham bone," asking to be remembered and to be refreshed "in us," as if the bone were a kind of muse or companion, perhaps a person too. The last line, wanting to be "Secretary of Stew," pokes gentle fun at grand titles while making the simmering pot into a place of real importance. The speaker seems content with small, domestic things.
The mood is playful, cozy and a little odd. The poem suggests that patience, leftovers and shared meals can hold more richness than any official honor.