Halleluiah. Is there always a smidgeon of halleluiah in every poem?

Halleluiah being personal and not necessarily over-the-top. Perhaps more like awe.


Birthday cakes & gooey confections result in jubilant (almost auditory-messy) halleluiahs. A plate of roasted eggplant w/fresh basil, tomatoes, goat cheese, marinated olives, and roasted onions garners a savory (almost low-key) halleluiah. Customized-awe.

Snail. Is poetry a snail art?

Actually, I want to talk about the snail community I witness at the bus stop. At the garbage bin adjacent to the bus stop there are snails fully outside their shells seeking leaf. Also, on fennel plants. Is this what a line of poetry aspires (to). To seek and be fed.



To which, of course, references escargot. Guilty pleasures. Food out of shell.


(FYI: I'm not a fan of snail mail poetry submissions -- another topic.)

Underpinnings. What are the underpinnings of a poem?

A human hand. Heart. And feet.
A particular palette and its expression.


About food? See above.
"Feet" are essential to do the marketing and to accommodate the distance between kitchen and table.

Dialect. Does a poem have its own dialect?

Of place, of mouth. Indeed, personal.



Why does one gravitate to mushrooms; while another scorns? In the roots, I guess.

Rehearse. Is editing a way to rehearse a poem?

Or did I mean redress? No matter; voice is a grand editor. As well as feet, walking.


Is reading recipes/looking at culinary photos a way to rehearse a meal? Moving onto little taster plates; writing one line a day.

Commotion. Why does poetry cause commotion?

Once common as a right hand, the oral tradition. Not something special or artsy. Now, probably difficult to understand. Will there be a test?



Julia Child demystified French cooking (for some). Lots of eggs and cream and cheese and good bread put to yummy, common sense use. Taste, not waste. Poetry mirrors that.

Comma. Are poems without a single comma bereft?

Bereft of what? A tad longer pause; slight contribution to silence?
Is punctuation a gestural roadmap to reading?


What is the equivalent to a comma in cooking? The pause before and after a slurp of oyster? Or soup?