Poetry Thursday: Do Ya Feel Hungry? Well, Do Ya, Punk?

The (C.A.T.O.) prompt for this week over at Poetry Thursday is to write and/or share a poem about food. Cool! We've had poetry about favorite words and sex, now food. If we're prompted to share poetry about art, books, movies, and travel in the next few weeks my favorite things in life will pretty much be covered! I started writing something for the food prompt and if I end up with something I like I'll post it another week, but at this point it isn't even a rough draft yet. It's strictly a mind-map-style group of scribbled words and phrases on a steno pad and I'm trying to figure out exactly how to say what I want to say. I'm still sort of following the prompt this week though. The poem below isn't really about food, but it uses the topic of food to speak very eloquently about something else - something I bet most of us have felt about something in our lives at one time or another. I know I have. Red Onion, Cherries, Boiling Potatoes, Milk - Here is a soul, accepting nothing. Obstinate as a small child refusing tapioca, peaches, toast. The cheeks are streaked, but dry. The mouth is firmly closed in both directions. Ask, if you like, if it is merely sulking, or holding out for better. The soup grows cold in the question. The ice cream pools in its dish. Not this, is all it knows. Not this. As certain cut flowers refuse to drink in the vase. And the heart, from its great distance, watches, helpless. ~~~Jane Hirshfield "Ripening" (clickable if you want to see it larger in a new window) Satisfy your hunger for more poems about food here.