Poetry Gong - Poem 27

Miss Manners Cannot Think of a More Succinct Definition of a Lady Than “Someone Who Wants To Punch Another Person in the Nose, But Doesn’t,” or: Taking Your Clothes Off While Hanging Laundry Will Not Get You Invited to the Neighborhood Party - A Found Poem From Miss Manners' Guide to Rearing Perfect Children


Consider instead, the likely results
of your acting like a lady.
You see her in the neighborhood
you give her a friendly wave.
See how easy it is.
You have made her feel terrible
and remorseful—and all by behaving
like a perfect lady.

Now Miss Manners asks you
to listen to a small lecture on the rights
and obligations of friendship.
Even the closest of married couples
have social engagements
in which they see people separately—
one cannot always have the same guest list,
and your friend cannot be expected
to hire another house
to spare your feelings. A lady finds
as she sails through life,
that she can spare herself
a great deal of anguish by not taking
notice of unpleasant occurrences
that were not
intended for her notice.

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I know it's a terribly long title. I kind of like it.

Poetry Gong - Poem 19: A Found Poem

June Cleaver Explains Sex to a Group of Future Homemakers: A Found Poem from Adventures in Good Cooking and the Art of Carving in the Home


An empty stomach is not conducive to beauty.


When long, slow cooking
is required
it is often
best to use a double

boiler. The dishes
most popular are not those complicated
with a vast number
of ingredients. Instead, those remembered
with pleasure and desired
often are the simple,
easily prepared
recipes. Put solid

fresh whole
tomatoes
in boiling water for just a minute—
then into cold
water to have them
peel easily—then
chill
in refrigerator.

A little free cooking advice

Here is a found poem just for fun. I really like the idea of found poems. Some can be very powerful with just a little revision, a few clever line breaks. Annie Dillard (I think it is her) is a master of the found poem. I'll have to check my book shelves and let you know.

Careful what you wish for. A direct quote from my son, just this minute.

Freezing “Holdovers” – A Found Poem from Betty Crocker’s Dinner In a Dish, c. 1965

What a lovely feeling
of security to open the freezer
to a selection of your family’s
favorite home-
cooked dinners in a dish,

each ready to heat
and serve at the end
of a rushed day
or when unexpected
guests appear. To arrive

at this secure state, double up
when preparing recipes
in this book—serve one
recipe for dinner,
freeze the other.

Below
are guides
for packaging,
freezing,
thawing,

and reheating
casseroles
and other meals
in
a
dish.