Food Poems

When the City Market cashier gave me the "Umm, are you pregnant?" look, I knew I had selected a good assortment of foods for my poetry class: the classic combination of pickles, peanut butter, garlic, and chocolate-chip cookies. Yum.

In class, I had the kids eat the foods slowly and give me words for what each one tasted like:

Pickles: sour, vinegary, lemony, sharp, hot, spicy, salty
Peanut Butter: smooth, sweet, creamy, heavy, sticky
Garlic: gross, stinky, strong, bitter, sharp
Cookies: sweet, rich, soft, creamy, chocolatey, sugary

We talked about how eating involves all the senses: seeing the food, hearing what sound it makes when chewed, smelling it, tasting it, and feeling its texture. Surprisingly, dill pickle spears were the biggest hit. They ate the whole jar and even slurped up the juice in paper cups. I asked them to choose one or more foods to write about, using all of their senses and at least one metaphor. The poems were not as serious as in previous weeks, and Adout especially enjoyed writing hers. After mixing three clashing ingredients together, she said, "Ew, that's so stinky." I said, "Stinky as what?" and a very funny (and frank) piece of writing was born.

I mix the pickle juice with the chocolate and peanut butter and it stinks like a skunk. Nobody would love to drink it. Sometimes cheese can be smelly like a skunk when it is tooting. It also stinks like a dog poop. If I tell someone to drink it they will say, "NO! That thing looks like a skunk and it stinks."
-Adout

Pickles are sweet, I like them.
When I drink the juice my belly
feels like when I drink hot coffee.
The pickle juice smells like
acorns. It makes you feel
orange.
-Asho

it's colorful candy it looks like a rainbow
it smells like sugar and ice cream
it feels red and it tastes like chocolate
-Saruro