Saturday, March 9, 2013

Sunday Mini-Challenge: Poets in the Kitchen

Hello to all the pond dwellers and visitors to the garden. 


Today, we are donning our aprons in the kitchen and whipping up a dish of words.  We will use food imagery to evoke and/or capture depth & meaning of our experiences, be it a happy or sad one. Consider these poems: 


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

And our own Marian Kent, in part:  

mother came to him late at night
  one slice of wrapped american cheese
  she offered to his hunger

grit and dirt and hair and mold
  and yells and smacks and hunger and worse
  a boy's childhood


last night like every other night
  this morning like every other morning
  out of his control.



                           Picture credit:   Gloria of Canela's Kitchen 



American poet and critic Ezra Pound once described a poetic image as something that captures an emotional and intellectual complex in an instant of time. Imagery in poetry puts into words what humans experience emotionally, intellectually, and concretely in any given moment. The moment becomes frozen in words, allowing the reader to dwell in and re-experience it every time he or she reads the poem.  


For our challenge we will use food imagery as a backbone of our poem.  Describe a food experience in a moment of time or use it as metaphor or symbol.  This can include the process of preparing the food (paring, boiling, baking, grilling, etc.).

As an alternative, you don't have to write about food but use the sense of Taste (salty, sour, sweet, bitter or flavorful or spicy).  Here is one from Archna Sharma:    

I am in love
and have discovered it
to be a taste:
the ripening fruit of a locust tree
irresistible,
only a sacrament of vows
can contain


And last requirement for the challenge - not more than 14 lines.  Make it short & sweet.

The Sunday Challenge is posted on Saturday at noon CST to allow extra time for the creative process, so please link something new not an unrelated or previously written piece.  This is in the spirit of our Real Toads project to create opportunities for poets to be newly inspired.  Management reserves the right to remove unrelated links but invites you to share a poem of your choice on Open Link Monday.

I look forward to your poetic servings.  Happy weekend to all ~  

Grace (aka Heaven)

To read more on Poetic Devices    

28 comments:

Kerry O'Connor said...

A most delicious prompt! Thank you for putting this together for us, Grace.

Scarlet said...

*After cooking lunch* ~ Thank you Kerry ~ Wishing everyone a happy weekend ~

Marian said...

eek, i'm surprised and honored to be lined up against William Carlos Williams, thank you, Grace.
i just have to say, my foodie self would rather write about anything than individually wrapped american cheese :)
so... mmm mmm let's go.

Ella said...

Yummy! I hope to whip up something good~ I guess I'm not combining prompts, lol~

Happy Saturday!!!

Scarlet said...

Marian & Ella - looking forward to your tasty servings ~

Margaret said...

You won't believe this. My daughter just made a fantastic breakfast and Instagramed a photo. I've been thinking about creeps and strawberries all day. Now I get to drool again over words. :).

Scarlet said...

Margaret, do show us the picture ~ I have drooling over food pictures since yesterday ~

Sabio Lantz said...

Don't mean to crash a girl's kitchen party -- are men chiefs allowed??

No apron for me, though I'm not scared to wear a dress -- I even look good in pink.

But tonight I'll be wearing my three-star jacket, chef pants and my toque. And I didn't cook something romantic or sweet, but full of spicy meat! So if your an herbivore (herbal bore), then beware.

And while I'm breaking the rules, I must also confess: I wrote 14 lines instead of 12. I could have combine a few lines but didn't -- maybe next time we can use a word count limit.
:-)

Scarlet said...

Tell me about spice, my son cooks his vegetarian food always with spice & herbs ~ I am easy to please and its a weekend, so no problem with the lines ~

Thanks for joining us in the kitchen Sabio ~

Kay L. Davies said...

Oh, Grace, I can't believe it. LOL
I am doing the prompt next week and I was planning to do food. So I've had to put my thinking cap on and come up with a couple of other choices, then make a decision.
Too funny.
K

Scarlet said...

Kay, what a coincidence. I saw that Ella did a similar food prompt last year, so I slanted mine a bit differently. What about travel pictures/ prompt? Have a good weekend ~

Margaret said...

The photo and poem are here! And my daughter and I finished them up with a nice bottle of champaign. :)

Unknown said...

Mine won't be as cheerful as some others as it comes from the view of food from an eating disordered perspective. But here ya go.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

A fun challenge! I apologize for not being able to keep my poem to 14 lines!

Mary said...

Grace, what a wonderful prompt. So often you write such beautiful, taste-bud teasing poetry that I know I would enjoy eating in your kitchen!

Kay L. Davies said...

Grace, I completely over-ran the "short & sweet, 14 lines" part of your challenge, but perhaps the photos will explain why.
K

Archna Sharma said...

What a fun prompt, Grace, thank you for including some of my words. I love poetry rich in color and taste. I'm pleased to be able to sit in the garden today.

Cheers. ♥

Susie Clevenger said...

What a wonderful prompt Grace...thank you!

Scarlet said...

Kay, no worries, love your journey into the food market ~

Archna, thanks for sharing your wonderful words with us ~

Susie, thank you for participating ~ As always, your piece hits a home run ~

Mixi said...

Hello Toads! I haven't been able to participate this last week at all (or for that matter write anything else either!), so I'm thrilled to be able to write for IGWRT again :)

I can't believe how much I missed seeing the familiar faces and names and reading some great poetry this week! Need to play catch-up with last week's prompts :)


Wishing you all a great new week!

Cheers!
Mixi

Unknown said...

I've been traveling since Wednesday morning. Time in Washington DC and now in rural West Virginia. Finally had a chance to get here!

Scarlet said...

Mixi and Kim - thanks for sharing your words ~

I made comments on all the linked poems but blogger is not showing them ~ Will check again later ~

Thanks again to all ~

Gloria Baker said...

I love this Grace and really enjoyed, but now really I would to eat some apricots:)

Ella said...

Grace I love this challenge :D
I'm late to the party, but I brought a dish better served salty, lol

Susan said...

Better late than never maybe. I am obsessed by that garden of Eden story and apples. Born and raised in apple country. This is a great prompt.

Jennifer Wagner said...

I'm a bit late to the party too!

Grace said...

Ella, Susan & Jennifer -

Not late at all ~ Thanks for linking up ~ Happy week to everyone ~