In honor of National Poetry Month, and in honor of spring planting and spring meals, and in honor of friends scattered to the winds:
welcome
my generosity is not steaming
on the table and waiting
for you before you
even know you want it
come to my house friend you
will find my offering still simmering
i have not yet figured out what
you need and your tastes are mystery
still to me
i will wait for you to enter
my kitchen and once here
you can let me know what you like
sweet and slow
pepper and stirred
then we can share in this gift together
both of us giving
both of us receiving
open handed
open hearted
- Suheir Hammad (lifted from Organic Soul, where you can also get an amazing sangria recipe in quantities "enough to get you tore up")
1436 Harvard St
Friends
There are days
Office days and photocopy days
Collapsing into night time
And together we slump
With sighs and whispers leaning
Heavy elbows
Against a wobbly table
Tipping it this way
And then the other way
Back again sipping water
And passing
Forever passing potatoes
From my hand
To your hand
I will hold in prayer
In passing your hands are important
To me and as mismatched
As chairs and napkins
And your dreams
I will hold close
As if delicate
As if breakable
As if my own
- Joshua MacIvor-Andersen (my former Sojo housemate whose musings on living in Mexico can be read at National Geographic's Glimpse blog)
More thoughts on urban food and tables:
> Weavers Way Co-op Farm, cultivated by my neighbor, affectionately known as Farmer Dave
> Straight from the Farm recipe index, maintained by one of the Weavers Way farmhands
> Recipes from Greensgrow, another city farm and CSA in Philadelphia
More favorite poems:
> "Litany" - Billy Collins
> "The Burning of Paper Instead of Children" - Adrienne Rich
> "The Only Animal" - Franz Wright
> "Manifesto: Mad Farmer Liberation Front" - Wendell Berry (and many more)
> Celebrate Poem in Your Pocket Day on April 17. All you have to do is put a poem in your pocket.
