Kumquat sausage on the grill
Gives your tastebuds quite a thrill.
Grapefruit-mango-meatball stew
Makes a cloudy sky turn blue.
“VERY NICE,” SAID JOACHIM,
“BUT WHEN DO WE GET RADISH CREAM?” …
Parable of the Presents: A Poem
Once there was a house, and in that house there was a room.
The room contained five chairs and a geranium in bloom.
A woman in dark glasses occupied the nearest chair.
Close by there sat a fellow crowned with wild curly hair.
A second man sat snoring, leaning on the windowsill.
Beside him was a lady who kept absolutely still.
The last chair held a gentleman, and he was fairly fat.
The five chairs held five people, and in those five chairs they sat.
It came without a warning. It was silent. It was swift.
In the lap of every person there appeared a sudden gift,
A square box in white paper. And each box looked just the same:
Each tied in bright red ribbon; each marked with each one’s name…
My First Three Poems
Cooking Before Marriage: A Poem
A meeting of the kitchen minds
through herbs: oregano and thyme
to be specific; and some lime
to sprinkle with the curry powder
as the kettle whistled louder…
Grocery List 2: A Poem
Onions, scallions, orange juice, granola,
Liver, lunchmeat, chunk of Gorgonzola,
Parsnips, turnips, pound of trail mix,
Corn chips, Cool Whip, box of Wheatabix…
Grocery List: A Poem
Apples, bagels, milk, and macaroni,
Froot Loops, canned soups, half pound of baloney,
Yogurt, cheese Squirt, Knox unflavored gelatin,
Doughnuts, cold cuts, box of Flintstone vitamins,
Chuck steak, pound cake, zucchini, summer squash,
Cloves, thyme, lemon, lime, bourbon, tonic, scotch,
Tofu, honeydew, flounder to feed six,
Artichokes, diet Cokes, peanuts, pretzel sticks,
Tater tots, German brats, cherries (black or bing?),
Blue cheese, fresh peas, I think that’s everything.
(Words and photo by Sarah Hinlicky Wilson. I wrote this poem ages ago, but only just realized it must mean I’ve always been fascinated by trochaic meter.)
Dürer's Rhino: A Poem
Oh, let me be Dürer’s rhino.
Gird me with plates,
Gridlocks and grates,
Hinges too narrow
For spear-tip or arrow.
Dragon has soft spot
But not Dürer’s rhino…
Shut Up, Luther: A Poem
Shut up, Luther,
Reckless truther!
Stop disturbing public peace and keep your thoughts in line.
Bold reformer?
Crude informer!
Flapping lips like yours unload our priceless pearls on swine….
To All You State Poets: A Poem
To you who collect awards and fellowships;
to you who receive grants because you
drink deeply of the Dakotas,
probe Pennsylvania’s coals and keystones,
and weather the wilds of Wyoming;
to you whose ancestors were anchored in the Ozarks
of Arkansas and harangued hunger in Georgia,
to you heirs of the lyric disintegration of Lousiana
and the ever glad expanses of Florida,
to you who narrate Norwegian silence in St. Paul
and Polish pride in Peoria;
to you who vocalize vocatives to pioneers in Nebraska
and brandish bowls of dust in Oklahoma,
to you lamenters of Los Angeles
mourning manzanilla buried beneath boulevards…
Persimmon Women: A Poem
On the upper floor there live two women,
Sisters, never married, now grown old.
Late in autumn they string ripe persimmon
Out to dry in winter’s bright blue cold…