licking my chops, kissing my fingertips

~ jama

“There is no sincerer love than the love of food.” ~ George Bernard Shaw

“Breakfast with Humpty Dumpty” by Michael Cheval.
COME EAT WITH ME AND BE MY LOVE
by Cathy Bryant

Come eat with me and be my love
and we will buy some plus size pants
and gorge on sweet syruped kisses
down supermarket food aisles dance
until thrown off the premises,
my fine eclair, my lemon puff.

Come eat with me and lose your scales
and gain lasagne, served with wine,
and ripe persimmons, plums and pears
my fragrant fruit, oh lover mine,
and we will laugh at diet cares
and low-fat bread that swiftly stales.

Come eat with me and roll on cake
and find crumbs in each other's hair
and nibble on as far as we can
until, replete, we lie quite bare
on our smooth bed of marzipan,
my love who dares to shake and bake.

Come eat with me and feel our flesh
as soft as custard, warm as toast
as comforting as treacle tart
as healthy as a hot nut roast,
my love, who nestles in my heart
- no sell-by date. Forever fresh.

~ from Savor: Poems for the Tongue, edited by Brennan Breeland and Stan Galloway (Friendly City Books 2024).
“Candlelight Dinner” by Raija Nokkala.

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by Luigi Benedicenti

Now that’s a love poem! Sensuous, sensual, and a hoot to boot — this deliciously crafted parody of Christopher Marlowe’s pastoral classic, “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love,” is just what I needed to allay my election year angst.

Be mine, cake, custard, treacle tart! And who can resist rapturously ripe alliterative fruit? You can pet my plums anytime. 😀

(Pardon me while I go fan myself.)

by Luigi Benedicenti

I admit Bryant had me at the title; by the time I read “plus size pants” I was giggling, only to be a total goner at the nibbling of cake crumbs and the shaking and baking that went on in that “smooth bed of marzipan.” How’s that for serving up double entendre? Here’s a poet with a flair for eclair and the playful panache of a lemon puff (don your oven mitts).

The poem also satisfied my craving for comforting nostalgia, as I remembered studying Marlowe’s poem and Raleigh’s realistic response in college English Lit. I still dream of a place where “Melodious birds sing Madrigals,” and I can lie in “beds of Roses and a thousand fragrant posies.”

(Calgon, take me away.)

“The Hireling Shepherd” by William Holman Hunt (1851).

While searching for images for this post, I ran across Hunt’s painting, a nice complement to Marlowe’s poem. Problem is, after reading Bryant’s send-up, I kept picturing the shepherd wooing the fair maiden with a platter of lamb chops (I bet she would have succumbed).

This is all to say, food is love and love is food. It’s all a matter of appetite, temptation, cravings, indulgence, satiation.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to roll myself in crumbs, as I have a date with a hot nut roast.

“Le Déjeuner” by Pierre Bonnard (1923).

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After being homeless in her teens, CATHY BRYANT worked as a life model, shoe shop assistant, civil servant, and childminder before writing professionally. She has won 29 literary awards, including the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Prize and the Wergle Flomp Award, and her work has been published all over the world. She co-edited the anthologies Best of Manchester Poets 1, 2, and 3, and Cathy’s own collections are Contains Strong Language and Scenes of a Sexual Nature, Look at All the Women and Erratics. Cathy lives in Manchester, UK. See Cathy’s listings for impoverished writers at compsandcalls.com/wp. Her Official Website is That Inking Feeling.

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Lovely Linda Baie is hosting the Roundup at Teacherdance. Glide on over to check out the full menu of poetic goodness being served up around the blogosphere this week. Enjoy your weekend and Happy Autumnal Equinox on Sunday!

*Copyright © 2024 Jama Rattigan of Jama’s Alphabet Soup. All rights reserved.

22 thoughts on “licking my chops, kissing my fingertips”

  2. I love meeting Cathy Bryant, Jama, and now my desire is to be a lemon puff! It feels as if this poem was meant for you, dear foodie friend! It’s a delightful post!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hello, dear Lemon Puff, glad you enjoyed the poem. Cathy was new to me until I spotted her poem in the new Savor anthology. She was kind enough to allow me to share it here. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  3. Jama, you are a hoot! I could study “Breakfast with Humpty Dumpty” for hours. Such fascinating details: the ornate iron on the table, the playing cards encircling the table, the two empty chairs, the strange onlookers in the moss-like background, the moustache and those eyes! How perfectly you paired the artwork with the poem! “My love who dares to shake and bake,” ha! Thank you for this wonderful array of calorie-free treats.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I hear you on Cheval’s painting, Tracey. So much to figure out, so many intriguing details. The tone is unique too — part humorous, part frightening, part insidious, or something. This artist likes to keep us guessing!

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  9. The poem is so funny, Jama! Cathy Bryant is new to me. Breakfast with Humpty Dumpty (that crazed look in his eyes!) had me first jump, then laugh. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Jama, thank you for the humorous poem (“plus size pants”, etc.), We celebrated my daughter’s birthday yesterday in a Lebanese restaurant last night that had me licking my fingers, just like my baby grandgirl did. After eating I felt like the poet’s line, “Come eat with me and lose your scales”. The artwork you added was a bonus addition. Have a wonderful day.

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Oh gosh! This one must be forwarded to sisters who giggle over our over-indulgences and poke fun at our (minimal) efforts to diet! Thank you, Jama!

    Liked by 1 person

  16. So delicious! Made my bag of chips, which are usually a treat, seems so mundane! And I was just talking about eclairs today – they were mama’s fave.

    Liked by 1 person

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