Moeder will Geen Rundvlees Eten

[FranktheFrank]

Mother will no Beef Eat

I bought a slab last week.
"Fourteen pound, said Evan from his market stall,
that's a giveaway. Sear four sides for a few minutes
then plonk in the oven for two hours at gas-mark three.
It'll melt in your mouth."

She pulled a face when I showed the plastic
bag : Evan Evans - Quality Purveyor
of Fine Meats - Est. 1928.

"You know I don't eat beef," she said quietly,
'The family are down next week, my birthday,
I said. You know Ieuan loves his beef
and the grands too, they all commented
on the beef, Aneirin wanted seconds.'
"Ieuan doesn't eat vegetables, Math doesn't eat
green peas."
'Okay, we'll do King Edwards, baby carrots
and yorkshire pud, pour gravy on it and they'll
love it. How about a quality wine?'

"Ieuan doesn't drink wine? Maybe Asti Spumante,
but he's driving. How about real Ale, he'll like that."

We sit together quietly on the 'Park and Ride'
contemplating the gathering to come.
I remember my yorkshire pudding was
flat last time, how to make a proper job of it.

[BobBradshaw]

sorry, this feels like mere notes

[FranktheFrank]

I do appreciate any comments,
thank you.

best

Ieuan

[Bernie01]

Frank---

i learn by reading the best poetry i can find, then thinking about it in detail.

here,


SECOND PLACE
Waiting for the Second Coming
by Jim Doss
Wild Poetry Forum

The cattle are lowing
but there’s no baby in the manger. Christmas day
dawns cold and bright without a star to follow
or Wise Men who come trudging over the whitened
hills. All I see are the swaying backsides of Guernseys,
tails flicking flies out of habit. They waddle
like old ladies answering the call of church bells
weary from lugging oversized purses
filled with life’s necessary nothings.
They stare in wide-eyed astonishment
that I’ve left the warmth of the house, presents
unopened under the tree as the others snore
snugly in their beds. The sucking sound
of my rubber boots in the mud draws them
closer. I lead them one by one into the stalls,
smear antiseptic on the udders, attach
the metal fingers. Liquid rushes through tubing
as the gentle massage begins and the collection tank
fills. I listen to the whir of the vacuum motor,
unthinkingly replace one cow with another.
If there’s a Messiah born on this day,
surely he would be here, nestled dryly
in the loft, adored by his teenage parents,
who fled their own Caesars and Herods,
I want to rise from this damp straw
that smells of dung, urine and sour milk
to behold the radiance of his face,
the peaceful reassurance that miracles await.
But I’m afraid all I’d find is two scared children
holding a screaming baby, the bloody
afterbirth matted in the hay, a beat-up
Volkswagen hidden behind a clump of evergreens,
and their eyes begging the blessing of my silence.
As the last udder is emptied, a halo
of light descends from the loft window
to circle my thorn-crowned head, and it is finished.

There’s a Ted Kooser quality to this poem, which is high praise, in my book. The voice feels entirely authentic and confident. I believe the sucking sound of the speaker’s boots in the muck. I believe he/she knows her/his way around a milking barn. As always, for me, I need the poet to ground me in a place, give me a chance to look around, or else I am not able to listen to any grander ideas the poem might present. And this poet does so, beautifully. It’s the “oversized purses,” early in the poem that allow me to accept the “thorn-crowned head” at the end. --C. Wade Bentley
arefully note this recent IBPC Second place poem, and above all, the comments of the judge.




bernie

[FranktheFrank]

Thanks Bernie
for so much effort. I did enjoy that poem very much.

I guess there is a message for me in your critique,
but it eludes me at the moment.

I would like to know how you feel about the pom.

[Bernie01]

Frank---


sorry, i had to break off before adding a final line or so.


the poem sets a table---invites guests---now for a final spark of adventure, something to remember.

...As the last udder is emptied, a halo
of light descends from the loft window
to circle my thorn-crowned head, and it is finished.



a child's christmas...final lines:


and then I went to bed. Looking through my bedroom window, out into the moonlight and the unending smoke-colored snow, I could see the lights in the windows of all the other houses on our hill and hear the music rising from them up the long, steady falling night. I turned the gas down, I got into bed. I said some words to the close and holy darkness, and then I slept.
Dylan Thomas
Poems by Dylan Thomas



the IBPC judge named Ted Kooser as a model:


Brad Leithauser wrote in the New York Times Book Review that, “Whether or not he originally set out to…[Kooser’s] become, perforce, an elegist.” Populated by farmers, family ancestors, and heirlooms, Kooser’s poems reflect his abiding interest in the past, but escape nostalgia in part because of their clear-eyed appraisal of its hardships. While Kooser’s work often treats themes like love, family and the passage of time, Leithauser noted that “Kooser’s poetry is rare for its sense of being so firmly and enduringly rooted in one locale.”


after setting the stage, the table for his guests...Kooser adds this entreaty:

...And from her Styrofoam cup,
white as a star and perched
on the dashboard, leading her
ever into the distance,
there is a hint of hazelnut,
and then a touch of myrrh.

Ted Kooser



what will Frank add?


bernie

[Kenneth2816]

Frank, I like the style .Not every poem has to impart some earth shattering platitude. You do have a knack for taking mundane domesticity and whittling it into something engaging.

I'm thinking Herring Boat as example.

Nicely done. The only not from me, is fourteen pound the price or the weight? My American curiosity......

[FranktheFrank]

Ahh, spot on Ken
I have pondered that myself, would the reader
know what I meant price or weight,
you are the first to pick up on it.

Its the price Ken. Topside is around £17.0 /kilogram
this was just under the kilogram, maybe it should
have been £28.00 to feed seven of us.

14lb in weight would cost £108.00

1 kg = 2.205lb.