Nitrogen Song

As nature shakes winter's sharp sting,
this protean poem unfurls into broad notes of spring.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One thing broke me;
         two built me back.

Fall in FScN 4612, Human Nutrition,
each lecture softening the edges of my circumscribed truth.
Studies strive for stolid statements,
         but humans refuse to cooperate.
We fictionalize what we ate yesterday,
we guess at how often we eat fish,
we tick the same box for grass-fed beef,
         for venison,
         for McDonald’s Hamburgers.

I crumbled under the weight of peer-reviewed articles,
at odds with each other,
squinting their way to the truth.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What is protein?

Amino acids line up according to ancient instructions,
attract and repel each other,
furl into microscopic protein machines,
group and grow to make
this protein machine,
complex
and
communal.

Renewal. Retool. Remake.

This lyric essay is an adaptation of the piece I performed at April's MNFYP event, part of the storytelling series. The topic: renewal.

I read a poem last November, when the world was wrapped in mono gray. It was the climax of MyTake: A Story to Nurture in Five Food Groups.

As nature squeaks into color, life, and growth, this protean poem unfurls tightly packed stanzas into the broad notes of spring.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One thing broke me;
         two built me back.

Fall in FScN 4612, Human Nutrition,
each lecture softening the edges of my circumscribed truth.
Studies strive for stolid statements,
         but humans refuse to cooperate.
We fictionalize what we ate yesterday,
we guess at how often we eat fish,
we tick the same box for grass-fed beef,
         for venison,
         for McDonald’s Hamburgers.

I crumbled under the weight of peer-reviewed articles,
at odds with each other,
squinting their way to the truth.

Winter, and I watched a dietitian speak with precise passion
         of an ecological approach to food and health,
         of environmental health and natural resources,
         of starting with oneself.

Essential building blocks condensed
         into a strand stretching
         from a protein machine, bending and twisting
         into a tertiary structure,
The Food System.

Summer, and I was swept along on a sustainability safari:
landing in locations
         from labels off co-op shelves,
scuffling with scripts
         from scholars and scientists,
facing furrowed facts
         from farmers and foragers.

I transcribed novelty into neurons,
I put my hands into the blackness and pulled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What is protein?

Amino acids line up according to ancient instructions, attract and repel each other, furl into microscopic protein machines, group and grow to make this protein machine, complex and communal.

Sunbeam

Another poem written for and debuted at Gigi's Cafe for MNYFP February — Food Love Affairs.

Part 1

Forget cartoons—

on Saturday mornings, I climbed the kitchen counter

to lift down the low-slung Sunbeam Waffle Baker & Grill,

heavy with age.

The tattered copy of The Joy of Cooking fell open to page 240.

I sifted a mountain of flour,

beat egg whites to stiff peaks, and

folded till barely blended—

batter buzzing from baking powder meeting milk,

I from anticipation.

Question: When is a waffle done?

Answer: Never quickly enough.

I ignored the control knob light

and waited for the tug in my gut.

Part 2

I jettisoned Joy, experimented with leavening agents and egg alternates;

the Sunbeam steamed on.

I snagged something unknown,

fed a sourdough starter and a young husband;

the Sunbeam steamed on.

Then, the clime cooled,

unseen cultures crumbled.

Question: When is a waffle done?

Answer: When no steam issues from the cracks of the iron.

I had ignored my gut

and the light had burnt out.

Part 3

When you are drinking on a Saturday night,

nothing tastes better than reappropriated cake mix.

The Sunbeam accepts funfetti batter

like it has accepted every batter,

bubbling with beat albumen

or bare of bicarbonate—

with steady heat.

My mind wanders

and the Sunbeam steals a kiss,

searing its red-hot love across my forearm.

Question: When is a waffle done?
Answer: When you feel it.

---
You may also be interested in my 2015 project, Right Now Is Your Life.

MyTake: A Story to Nurture in Five Food Groups

This five-poem cycle was debuted tonight at Gigi's Cafe in Minneapolis, MN (thank you, Eric! #MNYFP) and The White House in Fayetteville, WV (thank you, Garnet! #RDpoets).

Grain

For my second birthday, my mother stacked bagels
into a pyramid and lit a candle.

My aunt and uncle glanced

at each other.

I grasped and cooed

at my first flickering food.

When I was old enough to balance on a chair,

I stood at the counter next to my mother as she

turned and folded,

turned and folded

nascent bread.

My hands worked, too,

on a knob, brown and hard.

She divided her mass of dough, all curves, into four,

and tucked the soft edges under.

We greased our pans—

wide and accommodating for her, a narrow box for me—

and tapped flour across the bottom, the sides.

Her loaves sprang in the oven.

Mine were obstinate,

until I developed the patience to follow the recipe exactly, to

turn and fold,

turn and fold.

Dairy

I knew cow’s milk belonged in my diet 
the same way I knew I would go to a liberal arts college—

from context and culture.

In America’s dairyland, sheltered by the Lawrence Bubble,

I ran with Russian

and lounged with Linguistics.

Then one sunny spring afternoon,

I stepped into the dark.

The Lawrence University Vegans and Vegetarians were screening Eat:

Giggles from the back row when rhetoric leapt,

but hush when furtive footage rolled.

My cognitive construct of Milk

curdled.

I stepped out of the dark, the bubble—

burst.

How could I cipher Cyrillic, compare conjugations

in this savage light and sharp air?

I made curt changes,

homemade soy milk for cow’s milk,

coconut oil for butter,

sorbet for ice cream,

and on and on.

Ossified academia lumbered along—

I semestered in Russia:

my brain in St. Petersburg, my belly in Minnesota,

and delectable dairy products in my face:

smetana, tvorog, syrok.

Russia, like so many kefir grains,

fermented the familiar to a

teeming,

complex

tang.

Protein

One thing broke me;
           two built me back.

Fall in FScN 4612, Human Nutrition,

each lecture softening the edges of my circumscribed truth.

Studies strive for stolid statements,

           but humans refuse to cooperate.

We fictionalize what we ate yesterday,

we guess at how often we eat fish,

we tick the same box for grass-fed beef,

for venison,

for McDonald’s Hamburgers.

I crumbled under the weight of peer-reviewed articles,

at odds with each other,

squinting their way to the truth.

Winter, and I watched a dietitian speak with precise passion

of an ecological approach to food and health,

           of environmental health and natural resources,

           of starting with oneself.

Essential building blocks condensed

into a strand stretching

from a protein machine, bending and twisting

into a tertiary structure,

The Food System.

Summer, and I was swept along on a sustainability safari:
landing in locations
         from labels off co-op shelves,
scuffling with scripts
         from scholars and scientists,
facing furrowed facts
         from farmers and foragers.

Now, feet planted in soil,

eyes raised to the sun,

I throw my arms open to complexity.

Vegetables

The anorexic client’s favorite tallies 
are vegetables.

The anorexic client’s favorite colors

are black and white.

I watch the clients serve themselves.

“That’s enough salad,” I say to one

           and she glares at me.

Here, dessert is more important than vegetables,

and clients purse their lips at it,

wishing one of them would disappear.

Here is the bitter pill to swallow:

there is no black and white.

Only a magnificent muddle of color.

 

Fruit

A child with her first fig 
Doesn’t know what the seeds look like

Until she has ripped open the skin.

I labored four years eating from the tree of knowledge,

facing bracing questions,

planting enchanting answers.

I rested two days with a dietitian turned farmer,

who sat on a hay bale and recalled with remorse the advice she once gave patients,

who stood by a fire and wept over the death of her son.

She planted rows and rows of trees for him, the fruit of her land.

Mary, Mary, quite contrary,

how does your orchard grow?

---
Revised April 2015. You may also be interested in the poem Sunbeam, the lyric essay Renewal. Retool. Remake., or my 2015 poetry project, Right Now Is Your Life.