Friday, July 14, 2017

Dear, Sincerely


Flickr Creative Commons Photo by Faruk Ateş


Dear Mac and Cheese,

I’ve got to hand it to you,
you perfected the whole dissemblance thing.
I mean, it was flat-out brilliant
disguising yourself in that box for all these years,
allowing generations of beginning (or lazy) cooks
to transform dust and rocks
into a creamy bowl of comfort.
Box-made, your color is, though, disturbingly unnatural.
Not quite the orange of the namesake fruit
nor of a winter sky at sunset.
Neither oriole nor monarch.
Not autumn or amber.
Perhaps closest to road gang prison uniform,
a subtle hint to alert the most observant cooks that
the box is actually a trap.
Half a lifetime of cooking wasted, spent colorblind and imprisoned,
I’m free now, and so are you.
I’ve grated a big mound of cheddar and American,
mixed in noodles, poured on cream, baked until crunchy on top.
We’ve escaped, and nothing can stop us from moving on
to smoked gouda, bacon, fresh peas, and a crisp panko topping.
Your palette is now my palate.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017






Sincerely, Mac and Cheese

I know I cannot erase the facts:
they will grow up motherless;
he will be achingly lonely.

Stir into me the courage of a wooden spoon,
bake me with a searing love,
deliver me to be eaten one spoonful at a time,

the same way a vast grief must be consumed.
This is all you can do.
This is all I can do.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017




My mentor text for these two poems was David Hernandez's book, Dear, Sincerely. His poem, "Sincerely, the Sky" was featured recently on The Writer's Almanac. I loved it so much that in a rare move, I clicked through to his book on Amazon. After a peek inside the book, I knew I wanted to own it.


There are 10 Dear or Sincerely poems in the book. I took the conversational tone of my first poem from Hernandez's "Dear Death." My sincerely poem is most like his "Sincerely, Paper Gown."

2 comments:

  1. Much to munch on, Mary Lee.

    First impression of the image, without yet seeing the poem, is maybe it's
    a close-up of a fascinating undersea creature... maybe an odd sea horse's head.

    Then reading the two poems of thoughtful contrast.
    Re-reading.

    LOVE the mirth + mindfulness.

    Appreciations for the links, hope to taste them later.

    You have served up a mind feast.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What fun, Mary Lee! I clicked through to the book, too. I could easily see this as a mentor for the kids (and me!)

    I adore the way you lingered on the negation part of the description:

    Box-made, your color is, though, disturbingly unnatural.
    Not quite the orange of the namesake fruit
    nor of a winter sky at sunset.
    Neither oriole nor monarch.
    Not autumn or amber.
    Perhaps closest to road gang prison uniform,

    which I found to be really playful. Then! You nailed the alike portion with a super-fun, unexpected (but oh-so-true) image. Very fun.

    Thanks so much for a couple fun poems AND for a good mentor for my own teaching and writing.

    ReplyDelete