Food Related Poems

  In our class, we were assigned to pick 2 poems related to food and make a presentation about them. My poems were "Coca-cola and Coco Frio" and "Ode to Chicken" 

"Coca-cola and Coco Frio" by Martin Espada 

On his first visit to Puerto Rico,

island of family folklore,

the fat boy wanderd 

from table to table

wih his mouh open.

At every table, some great-aunt

would steer him with cool spotted hands

toa glass of Coca-Cola.

One even sang to him, in all the English

she could remember, a Coca-Cola jingle

from the forties. He drank obediently though

he was bored with this potion, familiar

from soda fountains in Brooklyn.

Then at roadside stand off the beach, the fat boy

opened his mouth to coco frio, a coconut

chilled, then scalped by a machete

so that a straw could inhale the clear milk.

The boy tilted the green shell overhead

and drooled coconut milk down his chin;

suddenly, Puerto Rico was not Coca-Cola

or Brooklyn, and neither was he.

For years afterward, the boy marveled at an island

where the people drank Coca-Cola

and sang jingles from World WarⅡ

in a language they did not speak,

while so many coconuts in the trees

sagged heavy with milk, swollen

and unsuckled.

This poem is about the disappearing culture of his town. The swollen coconuts describe the culture as untouched and being wasted.

"Ode to Chicken"  by  Kevin Young

You are everything 

to me. Frog legs, 

rattlesnake, almost any

thing I put my mouth to

reminds me of you.

Folks always try

getting you to act

like you someone else-

nuggets, or tenders, fingers

you don't have-but even 

your unmanicured feet

taste sweet. Too loud 

in the yard, segregated

dark & light, you are

like a day self-contained-

your sunset skin puckers

like a kiss. Let others

put on airs-pigs graduate

to pork, bread

becomes toast, even beef

was once just bull

before it got them degrees-

but, even dead,

you keep your name

& head. You can make

anything of yourself,

you know-but prefer

to wake me early

in the cold, fix me breakfast

& dinner too, leave me

to fly for you.

I picked this poem because the first time I read it, I thought it was a poem of love. However, while doing research, I learned that the poem was an ode to his father who passed away that year. 

Researching food-related poems were very interesting. I hadn't read poems until this class, but maybe reading some could give me good effects on writing. Thank you for visiting my blog! byeee