5:00 PM
Open fridge.
Check date on yogurt.
Really should use it soon.
5:05 PM
Sift through recipes
until one rises
to the top: golden
carrot soup—with rye
toast croutons—
and tarragon-scented
yogurt swirl—
YUM.
5:15 PM
Open fridge again.
Using gloves,
dispose of moldy bag
of carrots.
5:20 PM
substitues—
beets (really?)
parsnips—
who has those
on hand?
celery—
no need to peel
but…
YEECH.
5:30 PM
Pour a glass of wine.
Imagine
a world where
Star Trek is real
and replicators
produce carrots
on demand.
Eat celery
while considering
if potatoes
are close enough.
5:35 PM
Open freezer.
Stare at contents.
Close freezer.
5:40 PM
Add carrots
to your grocery list.
Chew on pencil.
Think.
5:45 PM
Open Grubhub.
Scroll.
No one delivers
carrot soup.
You knew that.
Who are you
to crave
such a thing—
Bugs Bunny?
6:00 PM
Stare at
grocery list.
Inspect bite-marks
on pencil.
Open your mind.
When ready,
underneath “carrots”
carefully write
everything else
you need
you love
you will fight for
until time
gets frothy
and
evaporates.
YESSSSS.
Repeat,
for as long
as it takes
to feel full.
Serve it forth.
----Sara Lewis Holmes (all rights reserved)
My poetry sisters' recipe poems can be found here:
Andi
Poetry Friday is hosted today by Ruth at There Is No Such Thing as a God-forsaken Town.
😂 I'm so glad someone else hates dealing with stringy cooked celery. My dinner prep today is going largely like this poem... Poetry really is easier to compose sometimes than meals...
ReplyDeleteLove it, Sara. Here in CT, I am contemplating turkey soup.
ReplyDeleteThis is so beautiful, Sara. I was chuckling through most of it (and snorting at the moldy carrots, which I know from experience actually IS possible), and then you veered away from the funny ending I thought was coming to expand this into something more, something deeper. Just wonderful!
ReplyDeleteI love this and am so glad you ran with this idea. I nodded my head and laughed as I read this. Most of this is me, but I'll admit when I get a recipe in my head, I do run to the grocery store at the eleventh hour so I can make it.
ReplyDeleteThe ending hit me in the heart. I especially loved "until time/gets frothy/and/ evaporates. "
Oh. Dear. I am never short of carrots because we eat a lot of carrots here (though I've also never craved carrot soup) but I am ALWAYS short of inspiration and enthusiasm for cooking dinner. (And invariably never have the crucial ingredients.) Could relate!
ReplyDeleteHello, Sara! I also very much enjoyed the refrigerator odyssey and then how you "open(ed) your mind" to write about desire and priorities and resourcefulness. Never let us underestimate the power of the froth!
ReplyDeleteHow WONDERFUL...such a poet's poem.
ReplyDeleteSara, this poem is so clever. I was loving the funny adventure into the refrigerator but the ending really resonated with me. This is an inspired poem.
ReplyDeleteha ha ha I loved this so much and related to it FULLY
ReplyDeleteEh...carrot soup is overrated when compared to all the other necessary frothy things in life. This poem is worth fighting for.
ReplyDelete