friday feast: call me cookie
mood: 
hungry
hungry
I am rich, buttery coconut with warm ginger tea, melty chocolate crackle on a Saturday night. If you like, marvelous molasses, merry in mid afternoon. A melting moment, a kiss, spicy and sweet.
Drop me, roll me, press me, powder me -- I am your favorite bar none. Flirting with dates, almonds, lemon and cinnamon, I always rise to the occasion. I go wherever you go, tell your fortune if you like.
Love me, love a cookie. Trace my life in crumbs.
culinarycory/flickr
IF ONLY HUMPTY DUMPTY HAD BEEN A COOKIE
by Diane Lockward
Chocolate chip, lumpy but popular,
sanctimonious with tradition,
irreverent snickerdoodle,
or a beautiful cookie like oatmeal lace,
delicate and chocolate-dipped,
visitor from a foreign place, Russian teacake,
shortbread with its dusty Scottish brogue,
the crisp Parisian sweetness of a meringue,
reminder that goodness breaks,
home-baked cookies from the kitchen
if only he could find his way back,
trace the trail of air scented with vanilla,
almond extract, and coconut,
the buttery goodness of his childhood
pulverized like crumbs on the floor,
a blizzard of cookies in December,
date nut bar for the lunch box,
Mississippi mud, the egalitarian black and white,
or an odd cookie, one that doesn't belong,
like a bitter espresso wafer, wimpy jelly tabby,
granola jumble with texture but no taste,
cookies that went astray,
Donna's Polish angel wings,
powdered and fragile as snowflakes,
cookies that emigrated,
crossed mountains, stowed away in ships,
slipped across borders,
and showed up in sweatshops,
flattened by the rolling pin,
cookies that staved off hunger, hid in pockets,
slept under pillows until morning light,
and did not crumble,
a blitz of cookies
spinning through Time
like pinwheels and pfeffernuesse,
cookies earned with his yellow curls,
soft renegade cookies,
dropped, refrigerated, rolled and cut,
cookies baked by his mother,
his grandmother, a procession of women in aprons,
their slippers padding into the kitchen,
women greasing pans, pre-heating ovens,
their hands dipped in flour,
fingers kneading butter, sugar and eggs,
women filling and enfolding him,
bringing him home, wrapped
in the unbreakable dough of their arms.
~ from Temptation by Water (Wind Publications, 2010)
pastelhearts/flickr
Diane Lockward is one smart cookie -- it seems she wrote this poem just for me ☺. Did you ever think a catalog of cookies could be so provocative, seductive and devilishly delicious? Cookies are portable sin; even when the last crumb is gone, their textures and flavors linger, like lost loves. I like how Diane juxtaposes the seeming innocence of a childhood nursery rhyme with an adult sense of longing and loss, mixing in a little salt with the sugar. Her cookies are so well made, they transport you through time and space. Tip open the oven door, I crave just one more batch.
gnuf/flickr
Now, let's try this. If you'd like to satisfy your sugar cravings, chews one or a few wordy cookies as a prompt to make your own cookie poem. Leave it in the comments and I'll post all of them next week:
kneadacookie/flickr
thedecoratedcookie/flickr
♥ Dori at Dori Reads is our Poetry Friday host this week. I imagine she'd love to be snickerdoodled.
♥ Diane Lockward's official website is here.
♥ N.B.: Diane has posted an invaluable list of print publications that accept online submissions at Blogalicious. While you're there, sign up for her monthly poetry newsletter if you haven't already done so. She features great poems, prompts, craft tips, book recs and links.
♥ To read other Diane Lockward poems featured here at alphabet soup, click here (includes seduction by apple fritters and blueberries)!
♥ Also wanted to mention this (click on the image to get all the details):
*Special thanks to Madelyn Rosenberg for the link!
mksavage/flickr
Have a cookie-licious weekend!
Copyright © 2011 Jama Rattigan of jama rattigan's alphabet soup. All rights reserved.
Trace my life in crumbs
Thanks for the intro to Diane Lockward's wonderful poem. Lots of food for thought. And that contest seems made for you!
Edited at 2011-02-04 02:25 pm (UTC)
Re: Trace my life in crumbs
(Anonymous)
tanita says:
Re: tanita says:
Mr. Dumpty sends his kind regards. He is eminently pleased that you acknowledged him.
I like that little teapot with the yellow shoes.
The teapot is by Carltonware of England. I have a set of footed pieces -- teacups, a plate, a cookie jar, a sugar container. Quite collectible as they don't make walking ware anymore. I have to keep my eye on them, though -- as they tend to travel all over the house ;).
(Anonymous)
Irresistible
Alone in the forest,
Red peeked in the basket.
Chicken soup, still steamy,
crusty bread, fragrant apples,
and four coconut macaroons --
flake-perfect, taunting.
What would Granny need
with four?
Surely three would be enough.
In fact,
who needs more than two?
The wolf laughed as he saw Red
settle herself on the forest floor.
He had been ready to dash
down the shortcut to Granny's,
but now he saw there was
no rush.
~~~
Tabatha
the pictures are killing me!
i need to go workout just looking/reading all this. thanks for sharing your cookies.
Re: the pictures are killing me!
This made me giggle outloud:
"Love me, love a cookie. Trace my life in crumbs. "
And then Diane's poem....fabulous right up to my favorite at the end:
"women filling and enfolding him,
bringing him home, wrapped
in the unbreakable dough of their arms."
Unbreakable dough of their arms. I want to think like that!
It's definitely fun to land just the right photo, and to see the post come together the way I'd like it to. :)
What a yummy post! Inspired me to both read more about Diane Lockward and raid the fudge cookies baked on our recent snow day.
I also love the irreverent snickerdoodle. Of all the cookies mentioned in the poem, it's perhaps the one I most closely identify with.
(Anonymous)
Tara
http://tmsteach.blogspot.com/
Here's my poem:
write your words
bake your words
eat your words
a sweet love story
we tell
bite by bite
Sorry to hear about the cheesecake -- but remember that lumpy is popular :). *sighs and wishes she had some cheesecake right now*
Have fun at your tea!