Food Glorious Food!......One Of A Kind…...Where Now For Independence For Scotland?.....
by Bernie Bell - 07:34 on 24 November 2022
Food…
I followed the link on Bartholomew’s blog page https://bartbarkerpoet.com/ and read Dawn Pisturino’s review of his book of foodie poetry ‘Milkshakes & Chilidogs’….
The saying ‘It takes one to know one’ came to mind. Bartholomew has often exhibited his not only enjoyment but delectation, appreciation and revelling-in-the-joys-of food - in fact one of the first poems I came across by him was ‘Blame the Dogs’….
Blame the Dogs
I walk around in a fat suit
because too many chilidogs
have dared me to see how much content
can be pumped between their buns
double chili — extra cheese
a pickle spear to my heart
I can hear them meeting at night
in my fridge while I’m sitting up
in bed— oesophagus on fire
they’re guiding me to that golden
all you can eat buffet in the sky
while the milkshakes egg them on
….and I thought – I can empathise with that.
Some years ago I spent some time in Naples visiting a friend who was teaching there, where having a meal is always a celebration. Whole families gather in restaurants of an evening to eat, drink, talk, tease, argue. I loved it, but if I lived there I’d be the size of a house – wonderful food. Wonderful people.
Dawn quotes Bartholomew to great effect – the lusciousness of food and the semi-erotic sensuality of some of our associations with food - which brought to mind these words….
“Feed each other blueberries
With our lips revelling
in primal nature”
…from…..
A Southern Farmers Market
Summer sun freckles your shoulders
I follow your cotton dress
Between stalls carrying canvas bags
Soon overflowing with booty
From our morning expedition
Cauliflower white yellow
And unbelievably purple
Fondled by your whisper long fingers
While choosing the ideal
Head for greedy consumption
Greens mustard collard turnip
Fibrous deep verdant
Leaves that will shrivel
To potent nutrition
With vinegar and fatback
The canvas cornucopia
Spills across our kitchen table
You prepare a lunch
Sharpened with flavors
Purchased mere minutes ago
We eat on the deck
Ignore air conditioning
Feed each other blueberries
With our lips revelling
in primal nature
Oh my.
******
I can’t resist adding a poem by friend Wendy about the simple pleasure of eating chips….and of eating with your fingers…
Small things
Sitting in a van
in the rain
watching the sea foam
through misting windows,
*
pulling open paper wrapping
the appetising smell
smacks us in the face
as waves slap on the beach
*
herring gull stands
sideways on, one eyed
one-legged, thinking
of chips, waiting
*
bite through the crispy fried
outer layer into hot soft potato
satisfied chewing and munching
snug in the dry warm cab
*
breathing, steaming, eating
staring into blurry horizon
through steady play of rain
splashing on the screen
*
tip tap tapping on the roof
trickling down the gulleys
mouths and fingers full of chips
delighting in this.
Wendy Alford October 2012
Another of my Mum’s wise sayings…”Fingers were made before forks.”
**************************************************************
Wilko Johnson…
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-25671434
Words don’t really tell it…his playing …does…. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBBfVBqQif8
********************************************************************
Independence For Scotland?.....
Robert Leslie says it more clearly than I would – I tend to get stroppy – so, here’s Robert Leslie…
And to those who say that Scotland had a choice and chose ‘NO’ – that was seven years ago. Things change – things have changed – a lot.
I’m going to post this again….
The People’s Flag
The People’s flag
Is brightest blue
Crossed by a broad
White line or two.
It stands for Scotland
Standing free
Not bound by force
Or adversity.
So raise the blue-bright
Banner high
Beneath its shade
We’ll live and die
Though cowards flinch
And traitors sneer
We’ll keep the Saltire
Flying here!
BB – 2021
********************************************************************
Here’s one I made earlier…. https://theorkneynews.scot/2019/06/20/artificial-intelligence/
Add your comment
