decisions

Of course, if you’re in a spaceship, no question, peanut butter please.

I simmer

Simmering brings out the flavors
wrung like ginger
trickling juices.

All of life requires simmering.

Charcoals are coal black logs,
placed on newspapers,
a fuel for cooking.

A mortar is for pounding
with a pestle,
in my mother’s kitchen.

We didn’t have an induction cooker or a food processor.
There was an electric wok, for stir-fries.

So we pounded dried shrimp
with chilli, onion & garlic,
and fried the shrimp paste
in the electric wok.

You could eat that with rice or spread into
shrimp paste sandwiches.

Only my father would simmer soups
in the slow cooker.

I did the stir-fries, quick and easy.

All my simmering done elsewhere,
as long as it takes,
to become a bird,
that isn’t cooked goose.

Process notes: We cook. We eat. We write. So write a poem about simmering, or cooking, and link it to thoughts about life & writing. One of my favorite movies is Julie & Julia, which is a movie about cooking and love and blogging. When we eat well, we also live well. It’s all kind of mixed up in a stew. Life I mean. Now go write.

This is my second poem prompt for We Write Poems.

wedding banquet

The wedding menu:

Suckling pig slices, soya sauce chicken, jellyfish, prawn roll, egg omelette combination

Braised superior shark’s fin soup with crabmeat and bamboo pith

Camphor Tea smoked duck

Steamed garoupa with superior soya sauce

Braised Chinese spinach with two kinds of mushrooms

Poached live prawns with Chinese herbs and wine

Traditional braised ee fu noodles with mushrooms and chives

Cream of mango with sago and pomelo

Do you smell lemons?

Napowrimo #16: what’s that smell? Practicing the art of writing from the sense of smell will open language in a different way than writing from a more “language friendly” sense, like the sense of sight or sound. Because of this, writing that uses a scent prompt evokes visceral, richly experienced poetry. Read Write Poem prompt here.

The secret to having an appetite is to smell.

It took me a while to learn, but life without
a tang of lemon is no good. Grilled fish,
rock oysters, Caesar salad, they need some
tartness, a citrus smell to seal the juices,
wafting over lettuce, parmesan and croutons.

Lemons come from a tree, you know.
As do kaffir lime leaves or tamarind.
Do not languish in ignorance, a tiny bit of
tamarind pulp in water makes good fish curry.
More than a dollop, you’ll do very badly.

You’d be daft to pass by a zesty tree
not knowing or not sniffing. Did I tell you,
the time I plucked kaffir lime leaves from
a roadside tree? Tiny and crushed in palm,
its heady, lemony scent had sent me flying.

It’s never over

Kate Walsh, It’s Never Over

How’re you feeling? Up or down, or pretty calm. I’m pretty calm. It’s Never Over till it’s over. Feelings, I mean.

Food is pretty important, like chocolate is an aphrodisiac and dark chocolate is an anti-oxidant. Eat the right food and your mood will be good. I know eating curry makes me feel good. Sometimes I eat pig’s ear salad (refer to picture). Rarely I admit. I don’t know if it makes me feel anything. It’s crunchy. What looks yucky may taste yummy. You don’t know till you try. What looks yummy may kill you. Like a forbidden apple.

first Easter get-together

Napowrimo #10: celebrate! Write about a birthday party, a wedding, a baptism — any kind of celebration where you were with family or friends or both. Write about the colors you remember, the sounds (and how they made you feel) and the tastes you remember from any of those events. Did these things make you feel good? Did you experience any new foods? Did you meet any new people? Read Write Poem prompt here.

Over the orange salad bowl,
stir pig’s ears, sliced cucumber,
roast meat, and did you know,
he got baptized yesterday.

(I stirred the dish, confusing
Easter with Christmas.
Easter ’s more important.
Everybody knows that.)

Oh wow, I imagine Bryan
being blessed & anointed.
Marie’s genuinely pleased.
(I’m still pagan, didn’t make it
to catechism. Will I ever?)

Somebody’s sulky & sat
eating in the garden.
Whose dog’s on a leash?
Why did you bring the dog?
(Don’t ask. Lovers’ quarrel
on parents’ anniversary.)

It’s getting really crowded,
Happy Easter! Help yourselves.
Beef & potato stew scooped
over rice, yummilicious!
Why not eating Waldorf salad?

Marie made cocoa jelly!
Everybody loves but
isn’t that for Christmas?
Switch hats. It’s Easter &
stop thinking it’s Christmas.

Valentine haiku

Chew slow ears of corn.
Suckle mandarin orange juice.
Tea fed in a spoon.

**

Dark roasted chestnuts
in wrinkled brown paper bag.
Sweetness in my mouth.