“Pieces of Silver” by J.I. Kleinberg (+ a giveaway)

~ jama

“They dined on mince and slices of quince, which they ate with a runcible spoon.” ~ Edward Lear (The Owl and the Pussy-Cat, 1870).

For your delectation today, a sample poem from a new food poetry anthology, Savor: Poems for the Tongue, edited by Brennan Breeland and Stan Galloway (Friendly City Books, 2024).

I’m slowing making my way through this exquisite word banquet featuring 72 diverse poets from around the globe. Talk about food for thought and a feast for the senses!

From the sweet memories of grandmother’s kitchen to the spicy tang of street food in bustling cities, from the bitter taste of loss to the umami of love rekindled over shared meals, this collection plates up a spectrum of human experiences.

The table is set. Let’s eat!

Randolph Caldecott (“And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon,” from Hey Diddle Diddle and Bye, Baby Bunting, 1882).
PIECES OF SILVER
by J.I. Kleinberg

I wonder how it is to be a spoon. To slip one curve
beneath, to gentle from its bowl a berry, slide edge-wise
into ice cream, into the warm cavern of a mouth.
How it is to both resist and hold flavor in the declension
of the body, to separate and deliver, to stir in clinking dance.
Friend to hand and tongue, to absinthe, to dish --
remember the cow? remember the moon?

Dulled-edged, round-toothed knives school in the drawer,
silvery herring, decorous for butter and condiments,
honey and peas, familiars to plate and tablecloth.
I wonder how it is to be a real blade -- remember the mice?
-- honed to hurt, to shear, stab, cleave. How it is to slice,
paper-thin, a gift for the tongue: fresh tomato, ripe peach.
How it is to be fanged, incisive, to be a surgeon for the truth.

How far we are now from nursery rhyme, from spooning
in the velvet-lined night. Implement taunts us, stainless
both praise and accession. Forklift, pitchfork, runcible spoon.
The drawer turned upside down, tarnished words noisy and futile.
Emily Post cannot resolve this clattered escalation of utensils.
Switchblade, forked tongue. What price a place at the table?

~ from Savor: Poems for the Tongue, edited by Brennan Breeland and Stan Galloway (Friendly City Books, 2024).
Jessie Willcox Smith (The Little Mother Goose, 1918).

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“Afternoon Delight” by Linda Apple.

What a fascinating poem!  

Since spoons are my favorite utensil, the poet had me at the first line. Silverware will never be the same, nor will the nursery rhymes she referenced. In this beautifully crafted poem, I especially appreciated the precise word choice and surprising verbs, how clever thought and sensory image flowed from one to the next, captivating the reader.

I like the idea of ‘gentling’ a berry from its bowl, hearing a spoon “stir in clinking dance,” and considering how knives “school” in the drawer. Yes, come to think of it, they do look like “silvery herring.”  And how often do you see the word ‘declension’ in a poem?

“Silver Cutlery on Blue Napkin” by Laura Lacambra Shubert (oil on canvas).

Spoon, knife, fork — words we usually take for granted, now turned over and examined for their linguistically adventurous other lives. No longer satisfied to be taken at face value, they want us to acknowledge their “clattered escalation,” being not only innocent, but also “accusatory” and somewhat frightening at the same time.

For every good action (slicing a paper-thin gift for the tongue), there is something bad (“honed to hurt, to shear, stab, cleave”). The poem is fueled by this duality and play on opposites (“resist and hold flavor,” “to separate and deliver”), creating just the right degree of dramatic tension.  

“Silver Cutlery” by Caroline Richardson (oil on panel).

I enjoyed considering both the utility and “dangers” of knives and forks. We need knives for cutting and slicing, yet they can be used as weapons. Same with forks — good lifters and separators, but don’t try to hijack a plane with one. I still like spoons best because unlike the other two, they can hold liquid (souperpower!). You can also use a spoon to eat some foods that are usually reserved for forks (pie!), and where would we be without measuring spoons and serving spoons? They take first prize for versatility!

An absinthe spoon is placed over a glass of absinthe to hold a sugar cube, over which cold water is slowly poured until it’s dissolved. (Photo via Wide Open Country.)

Still, spoons can be mischievous too — calling themselves spoons when instead of holding liquid, they let it flow through in the fanciest way possible. And is a runcible spoon a spoon or a fork, or both? What a tease! Don’t even get me started on sporks.

We are indeed far from nursery rhymes; babies are first introduced to solid foods with little spoons having rounded edges, shiny-smooth and comforting. Before long come the dangerous blades and forks and their “tarnished” cousins (pitchforks, forklifts, forked tongue). A good poem helps us see ordinary things in extraordinary ways. I like how Kleinberg has polished her “Pieces of Silver,” honing the poem to perfection.

“Silverware Drawer” by Lisha Nasipak (Watercolor, 2020).

Just for fun: Yet another silverware escalation, all in the name of art. Nothing tarnished about any of it, though.

by Matt Wilson (Airtight Artwork).
by Ed Hill Metal Art.
by Gary Hovey.
by Gary Hovey.

Best to keep a close eye on your cutlery. Never know what they’ll be up to next. 🙂

What’s your favorite eating utensil and why? 

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An artist, poet, and freelance writer, J.I. Kleinberg lives in Bellingham, Washington, USA, and on Instagram @jikleinberg. Her visual poems have been published in print and online journals worldwide and were featured in a solo exhibit at Peter Miller Books, Seattle, Washington, in May 2022. Chapbooks of her visual poems, how to pronounce the wind (Paper View Books) and Desire’s Authority (Ravenna Press Triple Series No. 23), were published in 2023; she needs the river (Poem Atlas) was published in 2024. For more, visit her webpage, chocolate is a verb.

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SAVOR: Poems for the Tongue
edited by Brennan Breeland and Stan Galloway
published by Friendly City Books, April 2024
Poetry Anthology, 128 pp.

Amazon
Bookshop

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🍴SPECIAL BOOK GIVEAWAY 🥄

Resident Chef Le Lapin Rotund is happy to present one lucky Alphabet Soup reader with a brand new copy of Savor: Poems for the Tongue. For a chance to win, please leave a comment at this post telling us what your favorite eating utensil is no later than midnight (EDT) Wednesday, April 30, 2025. You may also enter by sending an email with SILVER in the subject line to: readermail (at) jamakimrattigan (dot) com. Giveaway open to U.S. residents only, please. Good Luck!

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Lovely and talented Irene Latham is hosting the Roundup at Live Your Poem. Hop on over to check out the full menu of poetic goodness being served up around the blogosphere this week. Happy Passover and Happy Palm Sunday!

*Copyright © 2025 Jama Rattigan of Jama’s Alphabet Soup. All rights reserved.

35 thoughts on ““Pieces of Silver” by J.I. Kleinberg (+ a giveaway)”

  1. My favorite utensil is the spoon when soup is on the table, but the fork when real bite is needed. How sad to have to choose, when a banquet needs them all. I love the chopsticks, the cake server and the boba straw, how can I narrow it down? How shall I eat one pomegranate seed? How will I stir my morning tea? How will I add red pepper paste to my bi bim bap? I will own them all, and they will own me.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. It’s interesting how all these various utensils were invented by man out of necessity, to make life easier and the eating and handling of food more expeditious. How did primitive peoples ever manage — eating with their hands or using sticks? 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  4. Thank you for this wonderful post! I delighted in the poem itself and then your discussion of it brought me even more appreciation. I am not going to forget “souperpower”!

    My favorite utensil is also the spoon. I find their shapes pleasing. I’m especially pleased when I come across a soup spoon that is close to a circle.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Yes – me too!! Those almost perfect circle soup spoons are very cool. There’s something very comforting about roundness. Good to know you’re a fellow spoon person!

      Like

  5. Love everything about this post Jama! The line “How it is to both resist and hold flavor in the declension/of the body…” was particularly evocative to me. And silverware sculptures are great! I don’t know that I have a favorite utensil, but I have favorite versions of each utensil for different purposes. I have very strong opinions about what makes a good soup spoon!

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Love everything about this post Jama! The line “How it is to both resist and hold flavor in the declension/of the body…” was particularly evocative to me. And silverware sculptures are great! I don’t know that I have a favorite utensil, but I have favorite versions of each utensil for different purposes. I have very strong opinions about what makes a good soup spoon!

    Liked by 1 person

  7. I never thought about my favorite utensil, but Jama, you convinced me, it is the spoon! They come in so many sizes and shapes. It’s the most versatile and you can’t have too many.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Finding the right poem is the hardest part of doing a PF post. Sometimes I go through dozens and dozens of poems until I find one that resonates.

      Like

  9. I love pretty forks with designs on them to twirl my spaghetti oil and garlic, my spaghetti puttanesca, or my spaghetti frutti de mare!

    Liked by 1 person

  10. I love everything about this post, Jama, especially the images. Thank you! I’m not sure I have a favorite utensil but I do like one with some weight. A while back I purchased some cheap spoons and forks in order to have enough for a family dinner. We still have them, but my husband often reminds me not to give him one of the ugly forks (as he calls them).

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Interesting how the right or wrong utensils can affect us, isn’t it? Right now we have a “disappearing forks” situation going on. Seems there are fewer and fewer in the drawer.

      Like

  11. ooops! my comment vanished. I hope the first one shows up because I had lots of good things to say about this post. I have such fond memories of my grandmothers kitchens…I love how you led with that and ended with Chef Plump Bunny. The whole idea behind Savor is fantastic! I would love to read this book.

    Liked by 1 person

  12. I like the idea of ‘gentling’ a berry from its bowl, hearing a spoon “stir in clinking dance,” and considering how knives “school” in the drawer. Yes, come to think of it, they do look like “silvery herring.”  And how often do you see the word ‘declension’ in a poem?

    Yes! I was having exactly these thoughts as I read the poem and you summed it up for me. Declension?! I’m dying.

    Clearly, clearly, clearly, the spoon is favored above all else. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. At least today’s comment will be sent to you. I hope you know that I always love the topics, content, and formats that you bring to Poetry Friday. the images of the silverware shows the versatility of artists. I am glad that I had several rereads of your post as I tried to send my comments through.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Quick question, Carol: Did your comment disappear after it had been published — or did you try to submit it, only to find it never appeared/wouldn’t publish? Thanks.

        Like

  16. I wish I could have seen those comments too. Sorry for the issues. Still don’t know why they’re disappearing. Thanks for your patience and for submitting your comments several times.

    Liked by 1 person

  17. Pingback: a pair of amazing poems by Naomi Shihab Nye (+ a giveaway) | Jama's Alphabet Soup

  18. My favorite eating utensil is the tablespoon. It has played a very important part in

    my life. From eating my Nona’s chicken soup(could fit more on a tablespoon)to

    piggy out on ice cream with my best friend at our times of boyfriend heartbreaks. It was the spoon that my children picked when playing in the sand box and the one they ate chocolate chip dough with. Being up there in age now, it is the one I go to for taking most of my medicines. I hope to pass this spoon on to the next generation.

    Liked by 1 person

  20. That is a humdinger of a poem! I will definitely be more alert the next time I open my cutlery drawer. I love the way Kleinberg uses words in new and interesting ways and so enjoyed your thoughts on the poem. This is truly one to savor!

    Liked by 1 person

  21. Jama, what a lovely post inspired by Kleinberg’s poem. Such beauty in all the images of silverware art and the magic of words and poetry. Thank you for sharing, and for reminding us of missed Poetry Friday posts this month. I have been away from blogging for most of April’s Fridays.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Oh, yes, my favorite utensil is a spoon. Not a small teaspoon, but the hefty soup spoon. I think I could eat everything with one somehow.

      Liked by 1 person

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