Food Poetry: Crazy About Her Shrimp (re-posted)

Published November 1, 2007 at 4:50 p.m.

(I am reposting an earlier entry, but with changes -- I excerpted the poem and linked to it instead of posting the whole thing.)

When I was a very young yet voracious reader, my favorite passages in books were always the dinner scenes. Give me a crackling fire and a holiday feast to luxuriate in and I'm happy as the proverbial clam. As I got older, I began to "collect" food poetry, too. The literary potential of fruits, vegetables, meats, even casseroles is nearly endless. Love that's like a rose is so old-fashioned...how about love that's like a bowl of stew or a pile of dandelion greens?

Anyway, here's a bit of a food-focused poem written by Charles Simic, who was named Poet Laureate earlier this year. I first read it in a modern poetry course at UMass. He also wrote a poem featuring cabbage, but I haven't been able to locate it on the web. I love the title!

Crazy About Her Shrimp
by Charles Simic

We don't even take time
To come up for air.
We keep our mouths full and busy
Eating bread and cheese
And smooching in between.