Gravy
Day 21: Writer’s Digest April 2016 PAD
Today is Poem in Your Pocket Day! It’s a day to pick a poem to carry in your pocket and share spontaneously throughout your day. Click here to learn more.
For today’s prompt, write a poem that responds (or somehow communicates) with another poem. You can respond to any poem. If you’re having trouble figuring out which one, choose a poem from this following list of poems from collections I’ve been reading this month:
There Are Birds Here, by Jamaal May
Aubade With Burning City, by Ocean Vuong
The Translator, by Sandra Beasley
Ode to the Flute, by Ross Gay
How to Triumph Like a Girl, by Ada Limon
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gravy
In the South
Gravy is a food group
And not just any gravy
But…
That wonderful mixture
of just the right amounts
of flour, milk and drippings
with enough black pepper
to let you see it is there
No one could make gravy
like my grandmother
My mother’s gravy was amazing
but there was something about
the gravy my grandmother made
that turned fried chicken,
chicken fried steak
hand mashed potatoes … or
biscuits into a religious experience
Cream Gravy she called it
as opposed to the brown gravy
made with the drippings and juices
left from cooking a Sunday roast
Gravy is a must for most southern foods
but cream gravy takes any food to
a totally different level
of gastronomic experience
As Raymond Carver said best …
“No other word will do.”
Gravy …
Copyright © 2016 Annie Original Poetry
Always…I wish you peace, joy and happiness, but most of all I wish you Love.
As Ever, Annie
NOTE: Gravy was written by Raymond Carver during the year he was dying of cancer … for his wife Tess Gallagher. For me, this poem is the ultimate love poem.
Apr 21, 2016 @ 14:05:18
Nice tribute. Your gravy is one thing that will always be quintessentially Southern with a capital “S”, of course. We of a certain ethnic persuasion love our sauces, but I doubt there are any poems about chicken paprikash (Paprikás Csirke), only complete with galuska, same as Spätzle. Now I’M hungry.
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Apr 21, 2016 @ 14:10:19
No other poem for me would have worked for that prompt … I fell in love with it 25 years ago when I listened to a friend read it and dedicate it to his wife … the room was in tears and I was a Carver fan from that moment on!
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Apr 21, 2016 @ 14:19:17
I have no such poems, but I picked a poem by Kahlil Gibran, the first poet who really grabbed me with his humanity and spirituality…still have to write.
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Apr 21, 2016 @ 14:27:30
Love his work … need to read your:)
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