Recipe Poem contributed by Jennifer Faylor
Choose something unrelated to food to create a recipe for––joy, a winter holiday, or an ideal lover, anything goes. Make a list of five “ingredients” for your poem. For example:
Recipe for Averting Disaster
1. Optimism
2. Pine needles
3. Frost on the road
4. Distraction
5. CliffMake at least one ingredient an emotion. Ingredient #1 is the star ingredient, mix it well throughout. Add in #2-4 in smaller doses. Sparingly incorporate #5. Set a 10-min timer and freely write. Refer back to your ingredient list as needed, including them all before the timer is up.
2. Pine needles
3. Frost on the road
4. Distraction
5. CliffMake at least one ingredient an emotion. Ingredient #1 is the star ingredient, mix it well throughout. Add in #2-4 in smaller doses. Sparingly incorporate #5. Set a 10-min timer and freely write. Refer back to your ingredient list as needed, including them all before the timer is up.
In 4th grade we were also asked to do a “Recipe” poem. Unfortunately that one’s buried in a box today – but, it became a hilarious favourite in the family. Thank you for the ‘pinch’ of Positive Nostalgia 😊🕯
OOOOHHHHH…. I LIKE THIS!!!! I think I might give it a shot!!
Interesting…
This was a lot of fun. I didn’t know how short or long to write the poem so, I chose the lesser of the words and, ot is going to make all the difference as I pace myself through the next ten poems 🙂
Yeah, I went for brevity too! 🙂
Become a Ruler of Time Itself
Ingredients:
Regret
Experience Blend*
Hindsight (20/20 is best)
“Aha!” Moments (qty to taste)
Determination
*We prefer equal parts Blood, Sweat, and Tears, but you may prefer something less bitter. This is fine as long as you add 1Tbsp of Sheer Luck
1) Regret: Whipped to Stiff Peaks
Think long and hard on a time when you could have acted differently. It can be a time completely out of your control, or a time when you had the power to respond with maturity and grace, but didn’t. Some may prefer to complete this step while under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
2) Experience Blend: Let Sit
The more Experience you have, the better. This acts as a binder, holding the other ingredients together. We would like to emphasize that you cannot use too much Experience. If you are in a hurry and want to avoid too much Blood, Sweat, and Tears, you can try to find some Sheer Luck. In our experience, this is rather expensive and difficult to find. If you have Sheer Luck on hand, you can add it even with the Experience blend for extra power.
3) Hindsight: Incorporate
If you have Experience, mix it carefully and gradually into the Hindsight for more potency. Sheer Luck requires less mixing, but remember that it should be incorporated while fresh – do not leave the Luck on the shelf for too long or it will be rendered useless.
Take your Hindsight (20/20 preferred) and incorporate it into the whipped Regret. With the Experience blend, you should find the Regret softening and flattening. Without it, you may find that it takes a little more time to loosen up – more alcohol or another distraction may help, if this is the case.
4) “Aha!” Moment: Mix Gradually
Though similar to Hindsight, “Aha!” brand Moments are more sudden, shocking, and often more extreme. They can really help speed up the aging process of Experience, and they are great for incorporating Hindsight more effectively.
Take care; if you add too much “Aha!” at once, you may experience mild to major discomfort, restructuring of social groups, an unexpected concentration of regret, and rapid dough growth. Please ensure you have a large bowl to avoid a big mess. Also try to make sure that the people around will be okay with the effects of “Aha!” – it can be fragrant and even loud at time. If it manifests as a midlife crisis or other extreme lifestyle changes and spontaneity, prepare by keeping some extra Temperance on hand to avoid messes.
5) Determination: Stir Vigorously
Determination is an excellent ingredient to use throughout this recipe, but many people find it difficult to stir in until after “Aha!” Moments. This is okay; we have to take what we can get, and use as much Determination as we can find. When stirred vigorously, Determination adds a wonderful flavour to the mixture and helps us enjoy the process, not just the reward.
6) Enjoy!
Now that you have mixed these ingredients together, you can enjoy the fruits of your labour. Though you may not be able to travel backward in time, you can avoid or lessen negative consequences to past choices. You can also help ensure that the future is brighter and more enjoyable. It will also be easier to be mindful and present, living in the moment.
Return to this recipe any time you feel a sense of despair, extreme sadness, or restlessness.
Live life to the fullest!
Blame the hour, blame whatever, I had fun with this one! LOL! Hint: I Never write in rhyming couplets!!
Recipe for a Pandemic
Ingredients: You may feel it coming
perhaps as you collect tsunami debris along the Oregon coast. Use these pocketfulls for spice.
Your hands tremble like an earthquake as you you peer at you great grandmother’s handwriting. The centennial recipe.
No matter how often sift the flour,
it will never be fine enough.
let it rise.
Put the trembling of a thousand earthquakes in a pressure cooker, do not count your tears.
knead until you can bear it no more, the murder of George Floyd.
Begin the chant of all their names,
pushing an pulling the dough.
Black Lives Matter,
People of every colour matter.
feed the world,
offer the sacrament
to those who live without compassion.
C.J. Prince
2020