Hi Friends —
Thanks for enduring a sadder poem-a-day yesterday, and here's a sunnier poem to balance out your poetic intake.
My lovely neighbors Kristin and Jason pointed out to me the other day that April is National Grilled Cheese Month as well as National Poetry Month — and clearly these two celebrations were meant to be brought together.
At my new favorite diner-I've-never-been-to, the Pop Shop neighborhood soda foundation in Collingswood, New Jersey, owners Stink Fisher and Connie Correia Fisher serve up a speciality grilled cheese sandwich for each day of National Grilled Cheese Month — that's 30 days, 30 different kinds of grilled cheese sandwiches — and they also run an accompanying Cheesy Poetry Contest. From my quick review of past year's winners, I'd say any one of you has a great shot at cheesy poetry gold — so consider penning your own Ode to Grilled Cheese this weekend; I'd be happy to critique a draft for you before the submission deadline of April 26, 2012.
In the grand literary tradition of parody, retired professor Walt Howat offers the following Cheesy Poetry Contest entry, celebrating some of the Pop Shop's 30 variations on the grilled cheese sandwich.
Lastly, while the selection of "American (cheese) the Beautiful" for a poem-a-day may be considered an endorsement of National Grilled Cheese Month more generally, please note that the opinions and views of American cheese expressed are those of the poet and do not necessarily reflect the views of this poem-a-day curator.
Bon Appétit.
Ellen
American (cheese) the Beautiful
Oh forest of flavors full of taste
I wander through your browned cliffs of bread
watching streams of cheese run without haste
through trees of tomatoes oh so red
past beautiful rocks of avocado
ridges of sweet bacon hard and lean
through the lushness of pesto meadow
and gourmet mustards that lie unseen
toward the lake of mozzarella glow
'round boulders of pickles gray and green
smelling the warm gold Jarlsberg blossoms
climbing o'er the focacia ridges
surrounded by the sharp cheddar mums
crossing juicy chicken slice bridges
past black olives parading like nuns
clouds of mayonnaise ever so dear
and amber waves of carm'lized un'yuns
tis April again grilled cheese is here
a forest of lush tastes for me to find
The Land of the Pop Shop draws me near
rich veins of flavors for me to mine.
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Labels: NPM