Well, hello there!
Welcome to the poetry potluck — pull up a chair and a compostable paper plate.
Oh, and let me grab you a hibiscus iced tea!
Here’s the truth. My poetry sisters and I plan our whole year of prompts each January. It’s challenging! It’s thrilling! It’s… always incomplete! I can’t say why but we inevitably leave one or two months unspoken for. (In our defense, twelve months is a lot of months.) So when May crept up on us and we didn’t have time to sort anything out, Tanita declared a potluck — a bring-what-you-will — so we did.
Since it’s (very nearly) summer, I decided on my grandmother’s strawberry-rhubarb kuchen — tart, pink, eggy, delicious! And since following a recipe is essential when baking, following a poetic form felt necessary, too. Thus, my triolet (with a couple of little cheats — sorry, but think of it like adding just a little shake of nutmeg or ginger).
Strawberry Rhubarb Kuchen: A Triolet
Liz Garton Scanlon
Recipe written in grandmother’s hand
Faithfully followed by cup and by spoon
Dough pressed to crust up the sides of the pan
Recipe written in grandmother’s hand
Warm eggy custard, fresh fruit (never canned)
Strawberries sweet and rhubarb rough-hewn
Recipe written in grandmother’s hand
Faithfully followed, will be ready soon
Now, dig into the other potluck poems. Seriously — eat up!
And don’t forget, it’s our very own Mary Lee, hosting the party in her backyard this week!
As for June, we’ll be writing “In the Style Of” this triptych — August, by Louise Ireland — although we’ll be leaning into summer rather than stepping out of it!! Join us?
Liz, that has to be one of my favorite triolets of all time! I, too, have recipes written in my grandmother’s hand, always in green ink. Although she has been gone many years, her memory lives on in fruit salads and cookies. Thank you for sharing your Strawberry Rhubarb Kuchen and for stirring up fond memories.
Oh Liz! I am drooling for the kuchen and for the love in this poem. Thank you for breakfast. Thank you for the delightful rhyme too. xo, a.
I, too, felt the call of some kind of form that honored the recipe vibe! And now I’m feeling the call of rhubarb strawberry ANYTHING! (I think there’s a bit of sauce left in the fridge and a spoon or two of vanilla ice cream in the freezer…dessert for breakfast is calling me! (I’m with Amy in admiration for your rhymes, especially that “rough-hewn” rhubarb!)
Liz, I particularly love the shake of nutmeg or ginger. 🙂 Those hand-written recipes are precious, aren’t they?? Thank you! xo
Do you know I only recently learned to like rhubarb when we were in England? Maybe it’s because it was so fresh! I dunno, but your recipe and poem make me wish I’d been raised on that kuchen. A perfect triolet for our potluck.