In any case, I decided I liked "my" title better and figured I'd better write a poem (short and to the point) to go with it. Not my easiest challenge, but potato salad brought to mind an invitation to a Cinco de Mayo party that I received many years ago--before Cinco de Mayo became another excuse for Americans to drink to excess. Here's a cherita sequence with a slightly altered title. (A cherita is a three-stanza poem that tells a story. The first stanza, one line, sets the scene. The second stanza has two lines, the third has three.)
Text:
No Arguing With Something Potato Salad-y
1
invitation
please, don't let it require
a costume
...even worse
a request to contribute
a potluck dish
2
always a catch
"please use a food native
to the Americas"
what kind of host
presumes guests will know
how to research?
3
potatoes
I might have thought
Ireland, but no
native to Peru
in the 16th century
introduced to Europe
4
purchase complete
five pounds of
Solanum tuberosum
there should be
no arguing with something
potato salad-y
The unusual party invitation did indeed request a dish made with a native ingredient. I made a potato salad, but I also added beans and corn--two other native foods. I should have argued with myself about something potato salad-y! It wasn't great, rather bland. If only I had added some heat, but that was a time before I became a fan of hot seasonings.
Kathryn Apel is hosting this week's Poetry Friday Round-Up--from Australia!
You always take such an interesting angle - so I always come away inspired, Diane. Your potato salad may have been bland, but your poetry never is.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kat! I hope you're enjoying your first stint as Round-Up hostess.
DeleteWould you really rather wear a costume than make potato salad? I loved the genesis of this poem as much as the poem. Sometimes I read something and wonder, then read again. . . I have a pot luck coming, maybe something potato salad-y?
ReplyDeleteYou can't go wrong with potato salad in my book. It's one of my comfort foods.
DeleteOh my goodness - I've never heard of a hostess placing that kind of restriction on a pot luck, how very demanding, especially when you're already asking people to bring food!
ReplyDeleteAlas my high school food safety classes have left me with a mortal terror of anything mayonnaise-based, so potato salads leave me shuddering (unless they swap out the mayo for vinegar, and which case I can breathe easy again). ;-)
Actually, with this particular host we would have been surprised if there wasn't something challenging in the invitation. I was also asked to write a short script! I wrote, and read aloud, a re-imagined folktale that the host animated with simple shadow puppets.
DeleteHa--love that your mistaken reading led you to write this (I seem to be doing this more and more when I skim...) and that it came from a real life experience. Thanks for introducing another new form--will have to try writing a cherita.
ReplyDeleteBeware: cherita are addictive!
DeleteHa! I initially read your blog post title the same way you read the original poem title, so I was delighted to keep reading and get something with potato salad after all. Love the backstory, and the way you never back down from a challenge!
ReplyDeleteThe only real challenges are the ones we give ourselves!
DeleteI love how one thing leads to another--especially such a fun poem about potato salad. Who knows where ideas will come from or lead to!
ReplyDeleteThat's why I always love reading about or listening to the genesis of a poem.
DeleteSo great! I like your version way better. And I think we are kindred spirits: I always say I'd rather be the keynote speaker at an event than to have to bring snacks!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ruth! It's always better when someone else brings the snacks!
DeleteYour description of the original was enough to keep me from following the link! Short and sweet R me, too!
ReplyDeleteYour story via cherita sequence is just right! (What an invitation!)
I think it would be fun, though, to have a bunch of us read the poem and then discuss it. Poetry is one of those things that is short-changed in not being discussed. (Except in high school where poems are discussed to death and turn off the potential reader of poetry.)
DeleteOh, my goodness....I love your sense of humor and I agree with you on all points. If a poem goes on and on....it loses me. I like short, to the point and with a nice twist. Sounds like a drink, no? ha! Great execution of a cherita. Every time I see you use one, I want to try. Although, I'm not sure I could do anything with potato salad like you have. It's great! Nice story, nice punchline. great job.
ReplyDeleteWho could ever argue with something "potato salad-y"? Love your poem, Diane, and the story of its origin. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI never met a potato sal... a potato ANYTHING I didn't like, so no arguments from me!
ReplyDeleteI like your potato peruvian magnificence. I read the rollercoaster of the original inspiration and I liked: "turning babble to a soapy/ bubble up up & away until pop!/ goes the wizard" and "Back up a hemidemisecond!" I never knew Plato to inspire such a rage of foamy stream of consciousness.
ReplyDelete