How is a poetry festival like a farmers' market?

Everything in full swing. Assortment. Colorful. Fragrant. Savory. Pungent.


Meditative vegetables & the hawking of wares.

What can a poem best memorialize?

Epic aside, the simple observed simply does nicely. Think plum. Think wheelbarrow.



Holiday feasts, take note. Every Thursday is a thanksgiving when the grand minimal is invoked: oysters. Get splashy, top-off with steamed mussels.

Can you imagine writing a poem in a soundless, white room?

Imagine reading that piece. Silently, of course.



Never could I imagine cooking with a palette of only one color. Without music.
My mouth would be swayed by my eyes. Happens sometimes with a poem, too. Pity.

How many people are thinking of a Mary Oliver poem?

Besides Mary Oliver?



How many cooks are relishing fava beans, mangoes, and the advent of stone fruit? No need to ask why glorious intersections are seamless.

In which 3 ways is poetry time-sensitive?

Seasonal. Influenced by nature and literary fashion.
Age. Of the poet. Of the times.
Experience. The rock-sold daily and the imagination.


A cook is timer-tethered. By

clock
hand
nose
eye.

Tonight, serve risotto classico with a sprig of rosemary around which is a ring of the ripest diced tomatoes w/roasted shallots.

Does a poet always have someone in mind?

Is it the nature of poetry to be human – even the most minimal of work, the most abstract language?




I’ve heard it said that every cook cooks with someone in mind. This my grandmother told me. Also, “A meal never lies.”

Is the poet more like an architect or a builder?

Or:

electrician
plumber
carpenter
glazer
fine finisher?

When the poem does not feel of being constructed, then, is the poet a weaver? A seamstress?





Poet & cook. Do they intersect when they are at their most painterly? Or when practicing riffs? By the way, what menu scores the page.

Is poetry inherently multi-media?

When does poetry most resemble video art? Performance poetry, recorded? YouTube-ing it?



Food like poetry has always been essential as well as entertainment. Now,cooking is hot. Multimedia, print & online. Cook as poet, personality, seer,and bard. Pass the herb-roasted salmon with honey mango/heirloom tomatoes (more than 2 kinds), and pinenuts. Please.

What 3 things does a poet have in common with a musician?

meter
practice
improv

A signature style gets better in the doing.
The 4th being hunger.



Same can be said of a cook – pacing & pairing, practice, improv, appetite. Now, add a dash of luck.

Do poets have a disproportionate amount of words swirling around their heads?

Or feet? Because, you know, meter. Are there correspondences with other “professions?” Scientist with formulas; construction worker, her nails?



I know this to be true firsthand with cooks. My fingers attract stone fruit (especially mangos, plums & pluots), salmon, shellfish, pears, beets, fennel, and fresh herbs. And a particular woman,
with/without her apron.

Is Ill-Performed Poetry Usually Badly Written?

Can performance and page be separated?
Perception is personal. The body either chirps/coos & hums or crimps & cringes. Sometime response is fashion-driven, bowing to culture or literary stock. Then, there’s the poet’s reputation.



Certain foods have moments of being chic & trendy. Some, inherently abhorrent to one mouth or another. Others just get the job done – every time – without fanfare. No grandstanding. Think, carrot. Think onion.

Is the blank page a spider's web for poetry?

Or venus flytrap?
Either, necessary & yummy.


Remember, food is food.
Real & metaphorical.

What does the poet say when she doesn't have the right word?

Or any word?


What does the cook do when she doesn’t have the necessary ingredients?
Improv and take-out.

What can a poet never have too much of?

paper/pen
voice
intent
heart
silence
accolade?


The cook can never have too many olive dishes. Also, a trio of lemons
at the ready, preferably, one w/stem. Such, symbol & harmony.

How do poems fall?

Some poems fall away like a rhetorical question.
Some keep voice insistent.
Depends upon season & attitude.


Food, too. Are you thinking chocolate chip cookies because yesterday
was Mother's Day?

Is there one question poets seek?

Or flee?


Cooks are like that with durian and okra. Diners, too, have a love (or repulsion) of organ meats.


"What does this have to do with rhyme?" you ask.
What does daytime reason with poetry?