How is the refrigerator a tool box for poetry?

Open and revel in the shapes, colors.
In the possibilities.
Now lift pen
and lower onto paper
as one does a spoon
dipping into soup,
for it is morning
and you are hungry.

Organic baby broccoli. When will the next poem bloom?

Those promising buds on the baby broccoli.   Similar to the buds on the flowering dahlia tree which blooms once a year in November.  Soon. Soon.  So tall with it bamboo-like trunk and promise of pink umbrella blooms.  Soon.  Soon.

And when of poetry, you ask.

Likewise, poems are budding with intentions.
The exact moment of blooming to be revealed -- one letter at a time.

When I consider tea, I think of poetry. Why?

Why indeed!
Something about the unfurling of leaves.  The unfolding of a line
& its break.

What does cheese tell me about poetry?

I adore cheese.
Not one to my unliking.
Is there any letter that I don't adore.
Thus, cheese is a proper tool for a meal.
Thus, letters are the proper tool for poetry.
Thus, indeed.

On what level does cooked spinach relate to poetry?

Editing!
How so?
Reworking the familiar.
How so?
Usually, I eat spinach raw.
Use it as a canvas to which much color, many shapes, added.
Last night, spinach cooked with olive oil and garlic.
So green.
So fresh.
So promising.

How is cooking rice a teacher of writing poetry?

No peaking while cooking (while writing).
You can adjust afterwards if too much/too little liquid.  You can only edit your words after they are down on the page.
Each kernel to be savored.  Rejoice with each letter.
Enormously versatile. Much of world relies on rice.
Much of the world would do well to rely on poetry.  Why?
Because while writing or reading poetry, it almost impossible to kill a sister/brother human.

What visual qualities of Brussels sprouts should poetry attempt to capture?

A center affixed to stalk.

Tethered in the best way.  

Allowing many centers to adhere to one stalk. 

Visual community, leafy & green.

What does a poem have to learn from pitted neglet noir dates?

A natural, long-lasting sweetness.

Try this.  Add a date or two (sliced) into lentil soup.  Pleasure, indeed, as is a poem which represents
a long-lasting organic sweetness.  Unexpected pleasure.

How is making that black bean salad like submitting poetry?

What black bean salad, you ask?

2 cans black beans
apples (2) sliced
Fuyi persimmons (also 2) small irregular slices
mixed nuts & raisons from the last hike
liberal handfuls of cherry tomatoes
fresh basil, cut
snap peas slightly steamed
olive oil
pepper

The black beans were in the back of the pantry.  Deep reached and resurfacing.
Those last 4 words sum up submitting poetry in my world.

How do pears shape poetry?

Their shape is womanly.
Feminine.
Earthy.
They are so edible.
They do well by fire.
Thus, roast them.
Lovely companions
with blue cheeses
various & roasted walnuts.
Now linger to taste
the shape of the poem.

How do Fuyu persimmons make me want to write a poem?

Because persimmons make me smile.  Because paper & pen make me smile.  Besides, when I thought I'd said everything I possibly could about persimmons, a new way to say the old surfaces. The same is true with cooking.  Thus, the same is true in poetry.  Everything is plural with joy.

How is making a black bean salad with garbanzos similiar to writing poetry?

Flexibility and the use of what is at hand. 

Right now, I'm thinking flexibility might be a similar activity to editing.

I'm still thinking.

In the meantime --

THERE ARE NO BLACK BEANS IN THIS BLACK BEAN SALAD

she would have had
to reach into the back
of the cupboard
for the black beans
she refused
she reached
in her need
for what was
front-and-center:

garbanzo beans

to which she added
almonds
cherry tomatoes
apple, chopped
persimmon, cubed
handful of spinach
black olives, pitted
fresh thyme
olive oil
splash balsamic vinegar
pepper.
Under differ circumstances
she would include
oh, so willingly
cheese, either feta
or cheddar.


And into this mix
come tastes

varied
pleasing
surprising,
leading
to a thirst
for editing.   

  

How do canned peaches relate to writing poetry?

There's no substitute for the ripe, for the seasonal.  OK, OK I remember devouring canned peaches as a kid.  Then again, I ate Maraschino cherries.  Now not even vanilla ice cream would tempt me to grab either.  Then again, I don't each much ice cream these days. 

Does writing poems adhere to the seasonal?  Does it stretch into editing?  Does it extend to the reading of?  Can you write, edit or read a  poem out of season with vigor?.  Conviction?  Will the iterative voice of the ripe flow through?

The weight of place.  Of season.  Of time.

EATING CANNED PEACHES IN OCTOBER

she thought it best
to leave
the conundrum of actual
& perceived
for another time
and settled into
a cup of oolong

Figs and editing the poem. What connects them?

Wishful thinking. 

In the case of figs, hoping the season hasn't run it's course. 
In the case of editing a poem, wishing the last edit will be the final. 

What is the equivalent of mint in poetry?

The quality of fresh. Alive & quite green.  All herbs have kinship with poetry.  However, they differ in taste & timbre and thus relate to poetry according to those qualities.

Timbre & herbs?  Oh, yes.  Indeed.  

How does making tomato sauce infuse poetry?

Slow cooking fresh tomatoes with roasted garlic, black pepper, a liberal splash of vodka and fresh basil at the end takes time, patience.  Worth it.  Editing a poem also requires patience and time to meld flavors.


By the way, poems are meant to be eaten -- just in case you were wondering.