POEMS/ Bakers and Poets
King Arthur Flour (photo by Jon Schick)
Bakers and Poets
"The Best Poet is He Who Prepares Our Daily Bread" —Pablo Neruda*
The baker:
The wheat, the rye, the rice, the nut.
The grinding, the milling the storing,
choosing the loaf or the bun,
the mixing, the kneading, the proofing,
punching, dividing and shaping,
falling, rejecting, starting again.
The glazing and stenciling, slashing
then baking, the rotating, cooling,
the slicing, the storing, wrapping or bagging:
the sellers, the eaters, the butter, honey, jam,
the tasting, the nourishing, the sharing, the bread.
The poet:
The trigger, the thought, the sketch,
the sifting ingredients –sounds, images, words,
forms and lines, the rhythms and rhymes.
The work-shopping, drafting, revising, the cutting
and culling, reshaping. The reading aloud, the listening,
letting it proof.
The trying to publish, deadlines, submitting.
The waiting, rejection, the block, the blank pages,
rethinking, revising, sending again,
the final acceptance, printing and binding,
the bookstores, the journals, the readings,
the tasting, nourishing, the sharing, the poem.
* Etched on the door to the bakery at King Arthur Flour, Norwich, Vermont.
"The Best Poet is He Who Prepares Our Daily Bread" —Pablo Neruda*
The baker:
The wheat, the rye, the rice, the nut.
The grinding, the milling the storing,
choosing the loaf or the bun,
the mixing, the kneading, the proofing,
punching, dividing and shaping,
falling, rejecting, starting again.
The glazing and stenciling, slashing
then baking, the rotating, cooling,
the slicing, the storing, wrapping or bagging:
the sellers, the eaters, the butter, honey, jam,
the tasting, the nourishing, the sharing, the bread.
The poet:
The trigger, the thought, the sketch,
the sifting ingredients –sounds, images, words,
forms and lines, the rhythms and rhymes.
The work-shopping, drafting, revising, the cutting
and culling, reshaping. The reading aloud, the listening,
letting it proof.
The trying to publish, deadlines, submitting.
The waiting, rejection, the block, the blank pages,
rethinking, revising, sending again,
the final acceptance, printing and binding,
the bookstores, the journals, the readings,
the tasting, nourishing, the sharing, the poem.
* Etched on the door to the bakery at King Arthur Flour, Norwich, Vermont.
