Eating Right
Indulge in plump grapes,
one for every month
and each for every stroke
of the clock at midnight.
It's how the Spanish tell
their new New Year is
going to be sweet or sour.
Set your Austrian table
with little marzipan pigs
corralled in fine Bavarian
china. Secret silvered scales
of a single carp in a German
wallet and, please, don't
forget to convert your euros
to dollars. Suck Soba noodles
into your Chinese mouth,
unbroken, and a long, long life
imagine. In America, fill pots
with 365 black-eyed peas,
white beans Grandma calls
pennies with a pupil's eye
that'll swell to help you watch
how much you spend. Cook
them good till they're good
and hoppin'. Tuck in sides
of greenbacks — mustard,
turnip, collard, chard
no difference makes, all be
the color of hope — thick
stewed tomatoes for health,
and wedges of cornbread golden
-browned. Got rice? Season it
with a bit of pork and top it
with a spoon of southern chow
-chow to spice up what's boiled,
baked, and smoked. End sweet.
Your treat: Italian almond cake
shaped to snake. Take but a bite
to shed the past you'll leave
behind. But don't count on this
eating right for life for luck
and riches. Grandma always says
full bellies of beans get soft;
success don't wait to find you.
© 2013 Maureen E. Doallas
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Eating Right (Poem)
Labels:
aspiration,
creative writing,
culture,
food,
hope,
inspiration,
metaphors,
New Year,
poem,
poetry,
tradition,
writing
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
10 comments:
This one makes me smile.
And -- btw -- thank you for your list of eight titles yesterday.
Love the list of traditions - happy to see my own (black eyed peas and greens) Great feel to this - K
Love the list of traditions - happy to see my own (black eyed peas and greens) Great feel to this - K
Thanks for the list of New Year traditions. The snake shaped cake is especially appropriate for the Chinese New Year - the next one is the Year of the Snake
smiles...nice traditions...we had our greens and beens at the beginning of the year...in hopes of a good one...smiles....
My taste buds love your words!
I like the seasonings and tastes of food ~ Maybe Grandma is right, success doesn't wait to find you ~
grandma knows much better than father...
a delicious wander 'round the globe and into a future that we all hope will be golden, but truly none of us knows.
fascinating traditions ...
Post a Comment