Tags
Bread Soup: An Old Icelandic Recipe, food, From Blossoms, From Song of the Shirt, Ode to the Onion, This is Just to Say
Hi everyone! We have a guest host for today’s poetics – Lisa (aka Jade) – Grace
“The question is not one of eating, nor is it one of living; the question is knowing why. In the name of the father, the son, and the chouquette, amen. I die.”
–Muriel Barbery, from Gourmet Rhapsody
Hello All. It is an honor and a privilege to be a guest host for today.
Food is my sustenance, my comfort, my hobby, and my nemesis. Having searched in every nook and cranny for the origins of my trauma, the mysteries of my fascination — some say addiction – for food is still looking for the why.
Food is a universal factor in everything that is alive, which is why it is such a rich topic to create poetry around.
Peach farmer/author/poet David Mas Masumoto writes in his exquisite, “Four Seasons in Five Senses,” about “things silent” : Dawn. Foggy mornings. Blistering midday sun. Day’s end. Nights thinking about work. First blooms. Swelling buds. Ripening peaches. Grapes hanging fat. Golden fall leaves. Old farmers working slow. Between strides as you walk. When you stop breathing after a long deep sigh. Holding your breath while a dust devil swirls around you. As a child, end of day, after a hot bath in the ofuno. Standing outside in the cool evening air. Gazing up at the stars.
One may have passion for food, an admiration for it, or a kinship with it.
Ode to the Onion, by Pablo Neruda
Onion,
luminous flask,
your beauty formed
petal by petal,
crystal scales expanded you
and in the secrecy of the dark earth
your belly grew round with dew.
Under the earth
the miracle
happened
and when your clumsy
green stem appeared,
and your leaves were born
like swords
in the garden,
the earth heaped up her power
showing your naked transparency,
and as the remote sea
in lifting the breasts of Aphrodite
duplicating the magnolia,
so did the earth
make you,
onion
clear as a planet
and destined
to shine,
constant constellation,
round rose of water,
upon
the table
of the poor.
You make us cry without hurting us.
I have praised everything that exists,
but to me, onion, you are
more beautiful than a bird
of dazzling feathers,
heavenly globe, platinum goblet,
unmoving dance
of the snowy anemone
and the fragrance of the earth lives
in your crystalline nature.
Others find the taste of food compelling and irresistable.
This is Just to Say, by William Carlos Williams
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold
Food can give us sheer joy and immortality in a moment.
From Blossoms, by Li-Young Lee
From blossoms comes
this brown paper bag of peaches
we bought from the boy
at the bend in the road where we turned toward
signs painted Peaches.
From laden boughs, from hands,
from sweet fellowship in the bins,
comes nectar at the roadside, succulent
peaches we devour, dusty skin and all,
comes the familiar dust of summer, dust we eat.
O, to take what we love inside,
to carry within us an orchard, to eat
not only the skin, but the shade,
not only the sugar, but the days, to hold
the fruit in our hands, adore it, then bite into
the round jubilance of peach.
There are days we live
as if death were nowhere
in the background; from joy
to joy to joy, from wing to wing,
from blossom to blossom to
impossible blossom, to sweet impossible blossom.
Foods can be combined into recipes that stand the test of time and showcase a culture.
Bread Soup: An Old Icelandic Recipe, by Bill Holm
Start with the square heavy loaf
steamed a whole day in a hot spring
until the coarse rye, sugar, yeast
grow dense as a black hole of bread.
Let it age and dry a little,
then soak the old loaf for a day
in warm water flavored
with raisins and lemon slices.
Boil it until it is thick as molasses.
Pour it in a flat white bowl.
Ladle a good dollop of whipped cream
to melt in its brown belly.
This soup is alive as any animal,
and the yeast and cream and rye
will sing inside you after eating
for a long time.
Food can also turn against us, into the realm of eating disorders.
Food is plentiful for many across the globe. For others finding enough to eat is a life-or-death struggle.
From Song of the Shirt by Thomas Hood
Oh, Men, with Sisters dear!
Oh, Men, with Mothers and Wives!
It is not linen you’re wearing out,
But human creatures’ lives!
Stitch—stitch—stitch,
In poverty, hunger, and dirt,
Sewing at once with a double thread,
A Shroud as well as a Shirt.
But why do I talk of Death?
That Phantom of grisly bone,
I hardly fear its terrible shape,
It seems so like my own—
It seems so like my own,
Because of the fasts I keep;
Oh, God! that bread should be so dear,
And flesh and blood so cheap!
Food can not only refer to physical sustenance, but spiritual and intellectual.
“I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn’t quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn’t make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.” ― Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
Dverse poets, the prompt for the day is food. You don’t have to use the actual word food, but please write on the topic of food in one (or more) of its many aspects. Maybe on growing it? Perhaps eating it? Preparing your favorite recipe? A favorite food? Being hungry for it? Starving? Craving food for thought? A need for spiritual sustenance? Helping feed others?
Here’s how:
– Write your poem on the topic of food.
– Post your poem on your blog and link back to this post.
– Link it up to our Mr. Linky.
– Don’t forget to check the little box to accept use/privacy policy
– Visit other blogs. Enjoy some amazing writing. Don’t forget to comment.
About our guest host: Lisa Fox (aka Jade Li) is enjoying a laissez-faire lifestyle near the shores of Lake Michigan after twenty-five years of government work regimentation. She began writing online in newsgroups in the 1990s and has been writing in public forums and blogs ever since. Favorite pasttimes are listening to music, gardening, observing nature for advice, bicycling, spending time with her two adult sons and their partners, drinking cider with friends, enjoying being a foodie, volunteering at a cat shelter, dabbling in paper collage, and writing flash fiction and poetry. She’s a reading addict, film fanatic, and aspiring sonadora. You can find her blog at http://www.tao-talk.com
THank you for hosting our poetics Lisa. Looking to reading your poems in the trail.
Hello Grace and All. Just like the clockwork of cosmic fate, the afternoon thunderstorms knocked out house power at 3pm on the dot. It is back for now. You are welcome, Grace, and I’ve been reading very tasty morsels on the trail from my phone.
Hi Jade/Lisa and good evening dVerse poets! This evening I’m afraid I have to post and run, but I will be back in the morning to read and comment. I look forward to some delicious poems.
Kim, glad you stopped while you could and just finished reading your wonderful reminisce of making pastry with Nanna.
Welcome Lisa! Thank you for hosting today! Interesting prompt.
Thank you Linda. Glad you are here!
What a scrumptious prompt! Looking forward to this. Though I’m having to pedal hard to keep the computer going tonight…
The rain has been welcome over the past couple of days here, but when storms blow, trees find their ways onto power lines. Glad you’re pedaling hard and your computer held up, Sarah. Your poem struck close to home.
Thanks for hosting, Jade!
My wife and I have been paying attention to food for the past few years so I added a poem about that.
You are welcome, Frank. Glad you are here and I enjoyed reading of your eating regime.
Thanks for the variety of poems you featured in this post, Jade! I will come back later to post a new poem on this theme.
Hi Jenna. Glad you are here and that you liked the variety of poems. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.
Thank you Jade/Lisa for this prompt. As you have probably picked up, I love writing poetry about food and cooking. Welcome to dVerse! Thank you for a down to earth and sensible prompt!
Toni, thanks, so glad you are here. Just about to go read what I know will satisfy my palate from you.
I don’t know about that….
Toni, I should have read first. Doing what you do with hungry people has got to give your soul nourishment.
Lately, aI have tasted corpse, even when trying to eat chocolate. Take that. JESUS CHRIST is the bread of life.
✝
Vaccinius, sounds like you have something to get the aftertaste out of your mouth. Good. Peace of the bread of life. Glad you are here.
You know, sometimes aI feel like a motherless child … 😒
Hi Lisa! I’ve been obsessing about food lately, because of having to go on a very restrictive diet for health reasons. Plus, it’s one of my favorite poetic subjects anyway. I’ll get something up before the linky closes (maybe not today). Thanks for hosting and for a great topic!
I lied. I posted one from the archives. I’ll get around to the dedicated verse tomorrow!
I just finished reading your banana poem and loved it. Looking for your dedicated verse tomorrow, Xan!
My food memories seem to be entwined with family gatherings around some huge table. I chose to write about my maternal grandmother’s magic cookstove from whence came a glorious array of gastronomical delights!! Thanks for the challenge.
Beverly, your warming memories of family gathered around the cookstove is wonderful! Glad you liked the challenge.
Thanks for hosting Jade! Food is one of my favorite things … and it shows! :<)
Bless the heart of the lady who showed you how to make bread.
That is what I say too!
Great to have you Lisa! I loved Neruda’s Ode to the Onion 🙂
Glad you are here, Christine! I loved that one also. Never realized there were so many poems dedicated to food until searching for this prompt.
I broke my blogging fast to post to this prompt. It’s a looooooong one. Special kudos to those who make it through the whole poem.
Judy, I am honored you broke your fast for the prompt and am going to read your poem right now. Sounds like it will be a banquet 🙂
Thank you for hosting, Lisa (Jade). I love food poems–and food. 😉 But, unfortunately, I have deadline and no time to join in. I’ll have to come back to this prompt.
Merril, thank you for the welcome and appreciate you dropping in. The prompt is open until tomorrow but you can add it to OLN if you don’t get to it by then. Good luck on your deadline!
What a great prompt and I also nibbled on all the poems you offered. Thank you for the nourishment. I look forward to reading what everyone shares.
Glad you are here, Ali! Happy you found the poems nutritious and you are very welcome.
Great prompt! Thanks Jade, and Grace. (K)
Kerfe, thanks much. Glad you are here!
Thank you very much for hosting on this topic, Grace! A lot of what you wrote resonates with me and I found myself just nodding my head as I was reading along.
Hope I wont be too late with the offering of my own, but for now, I look forward to reading everyone’s contributions!
Glad you are here, Oloriel! Mr. Linky for this prompt is open until tomorrow. Open Link Night tomorrow is a place to link up if you need to after this one closes.
Hello all… I will write tomorrow for this prompt for tomorrow. OLN.
Work has been intense, including an event after work yesterday… Thank you so much Lisa for the guest hosting.
Bjorn, you are welcome on the guest hosting. So sorry your work has been taking up so much time. I understand having to pay the bills. Looking forward to seeing what you write on OLN 🙂
Cool Lisa, thanks for hosting. Sorry I’m late for the food fest…
Rob! I wondered where you were. Glad you made it. Time to go read what you wrote!
Food for thought in itself, a delightful challenge and resource to ponder. Thank you Lisa.
Paul, I’m very glad you like the prompt. Glad you are here.
🙂
Missed the deadline but posted anyway with a link back here.