The Poetry of Food


 


I believe in writing poems about food. For awhile, I was convinced that writing about the joy of pastry or the taste of Russian black bread might keep me from needing to indulge. I imagined the diet book, "How to Write Food Poems and Fit into Your Size 6 Jeans." There was a time when I couldn't write a poem without mentioning bread or wine. I tend to write about different obsessions, always wondering if I am destined to write food or photography or fire poems forever. I think there is only one true food poem coming out in The Alchemist's Kitchen titled, "Food for Fallen Angels." Do you write about food? Is there a certain obsession that finds its way into your work over and over? I can't make up my mind if this is a nervous tick or a strength - can you?

Comments

  1. Reading about food is the next best thing to eating it, so I think it's marvelous that you write poems about food! I may have one poem where food figures into it, but only in part... We all have our obsessions. We're poets, after all!

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  2. Hi Mari,
    What would you say are your current poetic obsessions?

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  3. A lot of my poems have cigarettes in them--something I didn't notice until I quit smoking. My new obsession is public transportation. There seems to be a bus or a train in every new poem I write.

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  4. Hi Sara,

    I don't think I have ever found a cigarette or a bus in my poems! I know there has been at least one train, many ferryboats (I live in Seattle) and several airplanes. Maybe I should slip a cigarette into my next poem? I love the idea of borrowing other people's obsessions. Thank you!

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  5. I'd say that my obsession is the unattainable, the undefinable... that which ultimately cannot be possessed. Would that be longing? If you read my book, you'll soon get a sense, I suspect... Cheers!

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  6. I am re-reading your book right now. It's at the top of the bedside table!

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