Poetry : Thurs 10 Aug
It starts within ...
A quest for something ...
Perhaps a yearning to eat ...
Or to find a comfortable seat ...
Or maybe relax to a gentle beat.
Find the silence in poetry, music and food
That could well put you in the mood
For an encounter with life in the moment ->
The here and now is ->
Let its whisper guide you in -> ->
We’re waiting for you ->
Come BE with us at
The Edinburgh Food Festival ->
Out in the street, the Food Festival street market took off in Bristo Square yesterday, with Stoat's Porridge, The Crisp Hut and 1st Class Fruit providing snacks and drinks for people on the go and The Store and The Market of All Possibilities: Nature's Poetry providing both food for thought and food to take away and enjoy later. There’s also a chance to win a hamper full of organic goodies from The Soil Association's stand.
I spent some time on the Nature's Poetry stand - the fruit and veg stall which we laid out like a still life painting – talking to customers, and writing poems on bananas which we subsequently sold. Kids had the chance to buy a plain banana and decorate it themselves. 'Nise banana for sale' and 'Oh, my name is Helena' were what a couple of them came up with. 'Yellow symphony' or 'Shh ... there's music inside here' were entries which reflected my musical background, while my daughter, who’s nearly eight, came up with some unconsciously witty entries such as a picture of a boat with the word 'sailing' after it, which brought the idea of 'banana boats' to my mind; 'I [heart] NY' which I thought was a nice alternative to the 'big apple' - and one of my favourites, 'eat me baby, oh yeah!'.
Back inside the Pleasance Dome, I sought inspiration in the kitchen as staff got ready for the day and Momma Cherri's show at 11.30am. I watched the process of preparing food, cooking it, serving it and saw people eating it – and this poem emerged
Virginal red,
Succulent green,
And a hint of madness in the way the knife
Slashes at the smooth skin,
The papery white pith,
Isolating the coolness of flesh from
The fire of the seed within.
Sober steel – chop – slash -
Then heat-seared, flavour-released,
The spear-flash thrust of stainless steel,
Factotums a seduction of taste buds
Almost silent, unnoticed at either end,
The catalyst ...
Steel.
I took a closer look at the trees at the centre of the dome and was mystified by one of them.
Growing at the heart
Of the Pleasance Dome.
But whether it's a date palm
A cocoa palm
Or a coconut palm,
I don't know.
It's refreshing to have it there,
Even though
I'm not quite sure how it got there,
Or what its purpose is ...
The winner of our second daily poetry competition - on the topic of 'Herbs' is Katya Conrad, with the poem she called 'Herbs' she put up on the poetry board. The judge was Momma Cherri herself.
How can 1 herb become 2
Even if it is 3?
Really it could be 4,
But could be 5.
So can it be made into 2?
A close second was an anonymous poem with a picture of a girl balanced on one foot on a stool, reaching up for something at the top of the piece of paper and the following text below
IT'S 4am, MUM AND DAD ARE ASLEEP.
3 plates are on the table,
EACH ADORNED WITH A FROZEN FISH FINGER,
SHE JUMPS DOWN AND LOOKS AT THE TABLE,
"WHAT'S MISSING?"
A GARNISH OF HERBS.