Exercise #19: An ode to a meal

[Creole Ned]

Exercise 19: An ode to a meal

Write a 20 line poem based on a favorite food or meal.

Due Monday, June 1st.

[Rimbo]

the drizzling shits are a terrible way
to spend the last days of a holiday
i get to the airport in a mad rush
where at last i see the bad peach get flushed

but on the flight from qingdao to pudong
i feel that something still is wrong
my energy's gone; i'm fading away
i've eaten nothing in almost two days

rush and wait and rush and wait
i barely make it to my gate
where above me I see a familiar thing
the red and gold logo of burger king

i rush to order; no cheese this time
then off to the gate where I wait in line
drooling as i smell my hoard
(they won't let me take my cola on board)

i take my seat and inspect the goods
the patty is part soy and might not be food
but hunger plays curious tricks on the mind
as my teeth sink in deep, the taste is divine!

[GyRo567]

O! Oatmeal that you are so plain
I feel forever frequent pain
Finally finding felicitous spice
To make you taste so sweet and nice

Salt, cinnamon, and spices all
But eggs, milk be a vegan's fall
Flaxseed and water be tolerable
All substitutes preferable

Ingredients all ready now
Still without any trace of cow
I imbue with fairly fiery fervor
My oatmeal on stovetop burner

While we wait we wander westward
Wondering when will we think hard
About how long until the timer's done
And then it's time to have some fun

Now with food so very yummy
Rumbly way down in my tummy
I preach praise prevalently upon my
Favorite food: Oatmeal! My my!



By Austin Arlitt (or GyRo, if you prefer to keep continuity with the forum)
I'm not very good at this, so there's not much meter, but each stanza does have 8, 8, 10, 8 syllables.
Not having fully found failure in my usual alliteration schtick, that is included a bit.
I've eaten oatmeal every morning for a decade, taking two temporary sabbaticals from it. Also, I'm not vegan, just vegetarian.

[Tai]

1400 calories a day,
that's a meal I say.
Some would argue,
and complain.
To them I say foo!

My meal is yummy,
yummy in my tummy.
It tastes so good,
very tasty.
Not at all like wood.

My meal is organic
sometimes hispanic.
But my meal is global,
available anywhere.
It is loved by all.

I eat it every day,
anytime I may.
You don't have to be a seer
to know that, yes,
my meal is beer.


=P

[Creole Ned]

Welcome, Gyro! I'll have my wretched entry up tonight. I recommend not eating before reading it.

As always, I will offer my comments on other entries once mine is in.

[Creole Ned]

This is not my favorite meal.

An Ode to a Meal

A juicy steak, a dark brown ale
Some melted butter and lobster tail
A bed of rice, some spiced potatoes
Carrots, peas, corn and tomatoes

Another ale will hit the spot
Might I add a whiskey shot?
Very full now but more I eat
I'll never pass up this kind of treat

A meal cooked just for me
Prepared and provided without fee
By hands that I will never know
In a kitchen where I shall never go

Course after course I indulge
No concern about a midriff bulge
Slimming down is no worry
But time is pressing, I'm made to hurry

When done I push back away from the table
Content and full but still unable
To escape my fate after this final meal
To a chamber I am led, to seal the deal

[Creole Ned]

Omniscia of Quarter to Three has submitted this entry:

What better a beverage to accompany dinner
Than that ancient libation called beer
Though drinking it often will not make you thinner
At least you will be of good cheer

A dark, roasty stout on a long winter's night
Is both luscious and warming to quaff
Or mix it with lager or something else light
For a pleasantly smooth half-and-half

And holiday meals need not pair with wine
Oe'r Lambic's reciprocal flavor
Whether Kriek, Pêche or Framboise, you're likely to find
Your selection is met with good favor

Something simple is needed for hot summer days
But there's no need to settle for Coors
When there's wheat beer, and wit bier and great IPAs
In abundance at your local stores

But whatever your poison, don't drink to excess
Learn to savor, to sip and to taste
For the pleasure and nuance of beer, I profess
Is moot if one guzzles with haste

[Tai]

oh I like THAT!. :) And yours is dark Ned, very dark.

[Rimbo]

Ned gets to be the Dark One for this week. :)

[Budly]

Beans, beans, the magical fruit
the more you eat, the more you toot
from the can or from the bag
a meal of beans can be a drag

Tortillas from flour or from corn
whichever you choose there is always scorn
Some like butter, some like salt
with yummy tortillas you can find no fault

Then comes salsa, that delicious treat
a blend of spices that can't be beat
Some is mild, some is hot
some will cause your stomach to rot

The other things you may enjoy
rice and corn and nothing soy
lettuce, lime and tomatoes
if it's breakfast, even potatoes

Chicken, beef or pork
sometimes so big it requires a fork
Those mexicans really did this one right
for in your stomach, the ultimate food fight

[Omniscia]

All right, I've registered, so now I can actually post this stuff here rather than burden poor ol' Ned.

My first attempt was intended to contrast Maine lobster with Chesapeake Bay crab, but it didn't go so well. And then the hockey game was going to be starting in an hour, so I just dashed this one off quickly, in case it went into overtime.

I'm glad it's not all quatrains; I was worried about that... Thanks, Tai.

There does seem to be a preponderance of quatrains, though, following an AABB CCDD EEFF GGHH IIJJ end-rhyme pattern. Is that just what we're used to? No free verse or anything?

I suggest if we do poems again, we try the Bout-rimes (http://poefusion.blogspot.com/2008/04/bout-rimes_6803.html) form. They're fun.

[Rimbo]

for me, it was a matter of trying to figure out how to structure 20 lines. I figured it would be a poem in 5 acts, which resulted in 4 lines per stanza :)

[Creole Ned]

How little do I know about meter, verse and all that? So little that I looked up "poetry" on Wikipedia and when I saw the sample poem written in an AABB structure (is that right?) I thought "Hey, that's the method for me!"

I tried writing out several happy meals, so to speak, but they weren't clicking, so chow down on death row it was.

We will do more poetry and other non-short storyish exercises in the future.

[Tai]

I'm glad it's not all quatrains; I was worried about that... Thanks, Tai.

grin, my pleasure. I was trying for an Inigo and Fezzik rhyming voice on that last line each time. ;)

[Arioch]

An ode to the potato
by Arioch


The surest sign that God doesn't hate us:
He gave us
potaters.

No other fruit, no veg-
etable is it's match.

For visual appeal,
with care remove the peel

When hunger burns like fire,
throw diced ones in a fryer

The produce of the soil
is getting boiled in oil
a goldenish delight
and fat-free! ('Kay, I lied.)

Pay heed this information:
For absolute sensation
do try this combination:


Sliced spiced potato
and the best of tomato:
There's no greater matchup
than french fries and ketchup.

Okay, so the tomato-potato rhyme won with three occurences.

[Creole Ned]

Feel free to discuss the poems some more. I hesitate to critique since my knowledge of the form is so woeful.

[Tai]

i waws drunk :)

[Kael]

Ode to Jack Daniels

How many nights had Jack and I
spent crying, painfully immobilized
laying on my back spewing into the sky
pouring down, my dinner, burger and fries
a warm greasy rain burning my eyes

I'd seen men in the liquor ads
cowboys, athletes with perfect abs
and I wondered if heaving this bad
is where those stomach muscles had
come from, my newest diet fad

How can I be fat with Jack around?
I cant even keep my dinner down
and after all the food is found
comes blood, bile and the barking sound
lung butter and cheese all over the ground

Suddenly hungry, my stomach quite bare
I fumble through vomit and find it there
half a meat patty, cooked medium rare
it tastes like a drifters used underwear
but I am to intoxicated to care

[Rimbo]

that was both sublime and disgusting