Skip to main content

ODE TO FOODS OF SUMMER

 Ode To The Foods of Summer


Written by Joan Rowden Hart ©June 2018

Nothing works better to relieve summer’s stress
Than preparing the season’s first beans
Sitting in a recliner with bowl on your lap
Anticipating the meal of your dreams

Those delicate green pods are awaiting the mantle
Of bacon’s smokey goodness just right
Vidalia’s sweet onions add just the right touch
To whet even the least appetite

Small pearls of potatoes so tender and white
Are the next layer of this tasty meal
They will melt in your mouth in a buttery flash
Creamy sweet with just a hint of red peel.

Tomatoes of red sliced thin and arranged
On a plate with red florals to match
With white and green onion stems artfully laid
To provide a bright color contrast.

Cucumbers cut neatly in quarters or slices
With a rich sour cream dip on the side
And a second mixture of vinegar marinade
Sometimes it’s hard to decide.

Yellow cobs of sweet corn steaming hot from the pot
Draped with butter and pepper and salt
Those glittering gold nuggets of juicy temptation
My taste buds they truly exalt.

Hot yeast rolls  in the oven have been rising a while
With globulous goodness they shine
Fried chicken piled high on large oval platters
The drumsticks will always be mine.

Summer peaches in cobbler is the finishing touch
Butter crusting the lattice on top
But only a small bite can I manage to eat
I’m so full I am ready to drop.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Passion

  “Better pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade and wither dismally with age”..  (James Joyce) I’ve often been accused of being too passionate, of caring too much about certain things.  But I believe that  passion, also defined as fervor or zeal, is  one of the essential core values of human life, along with the Apostle Paul’s Biblical list of the virtues of faith, hope and charity.  Passionate people have strong opinions and usually articulate them very well.  We are also perfectionists, and we don’t handle incompetence in the public arena very well, all of which tend to preclude us from being the most popular person in the room.  I long ago accepted the fact that I won’t have the largest funeral in Lebanon, nor will my obituary make the front page. But not everyone seems to care that much about anything other than their own lives.  T.S. Eliot once said, “It is obvious that we can no more explain pas...

JOY OF READING

  JOY OF READING Written by Joan Rowden Hart I sit in my office and look at my treasure Stacked row upon row, the source of my pleasure There is wealth beyond measure everywhere that I look So many shelves, filled with book after book. So many words that tell so many stories So many volumes just full of God’s glory So many reminders of our history and then So many narratives of women and men Who have experienced life with all of its trials, And still write the words that will cause me to smile, Who have struggled with failure and rose up again And made me forget my own troubles and pain. So many thoughts, written with deep meditation Shared with those who will read with great contemplation Thoughts that I by myself could never create Are given to me in abundance so great Free for the taking, but not enough time To just sit and enjoy other’s thoughts so sublime. There’s so much to learn hidden deep in those tomes Of other men’s travels while we stay in our homes There is poetry and ...

ANNIE, THE CAT'S MEOW

  I first met Annie back in February 2004 after Milan told me to let him know what I wanted for for Valentine’s Day and he promised would get it for me no matter what it was. He has often joked that he should have have put some conditions on that. But he didn’t, and so I headed straight to the Humane Society animal shelter. It had been two long years since we had put our beloved Maine Coon cat to sleep, a big pile of what appeared to be nothing but fur, but had a huge heart hidden inside. We had named him Ollie in honor of Col. Oliver North who was our news hero at the time. I entered the cat compound at the Humane Society. There were only two cats inside, a brown tabby who ran to the other side of the pen away from me, and a little black and white girl who came running over to me and when I picked her up, she snuggled her head under my chin and began to purr. It was love at first sight. She was new there and they had not given her a name so I called her Annie. She was alway...