Poetry : Mon 14 Aug
Conversations flourished at the Café in the Pleasance Dome last night, with couples and groups huddled on chairs and sofas around tables. One couple in particular caught my attention and inspired this poem about faces and the way in which facial expressions feed conversations.
With an array of changing courses
A frown for piquancy
A smile for dessert
Lowered head and eyelids
Lift the cover on
Pursed lips - offering intimacy
As rare as wild strawberries, freshly picked.
Drawing closer, eyes alight,
A flambéed dish
She draws back, satiated,
Or fearful of the flames,
Then draws closer.
A game between consumer and consumed,
The dish here draws its customer on.
Consumed, consumes consumer in its turn
As time passed and the space filled, queues lengthened, the pace of service quickened and seats were at a premium, with territorial behaviour becoming more marked.
Quick, before it's taken.
Grab that seat -
It's just right for your bum.
Grab that seat -
Or someone else'll get it.
Grab it, grab it, going, going, gone!
Stand in line -
Barman, here's a fiver!
Stand in line -
This beaming smile's for you!
Stand in line -
Come on, serve me quickly!
Thinking, thinking, how to beat the queue.
Careful with that tray -
Don't you go and drop it.
Careful with that tray -
Gangway now, make way!
Careful with that tray -
Our table's over there, mate.
If I can do it, you can do it - go and join the fray!
The next bit of inspiration came from watching someone look through one of the menus on the tables before ordering his meal.
He studies the menu
Anticipates taste ...
"Excuse me, miss. Would you
Mix catfish and fruit?
Should that be a dénou-
-ment to my supper?
Or should Cajun be first?
Maybe a genu-
-ine meat Jambalaya?
Southern Fried Chicken?"
"I'll give you a hint. You
Can have you the whole lot.
Just let me know when you
Are ready to order
And then I will serve you
A soul feast that you
Can eat in this venue,
I'll wrap up what's left
For you to take with you
When you've had your fill
Of what's on the menu
If that doesn't last
We're open tomorrow
So come and peruse
Our soul breakfast menu!"
Yesterday's topic of the day in our daily poetry competition was a 'free choice' topic in which anything went. Performers and public joined in enthusiastically with a record 43 entries. The winning poem was a particularly moving untitled one
Her cry comes
Through my window
At 3 am
Help me!
From the flats behind.
I should go.
I should go.
Help me!
Surely someone else
Will go,
Won't they?
Help me!
Won't they?
Maybe I should.
I should.
Help me!
Don't know the estate.
A lone female like
She is.
Help me!
Should I go?
I shouldn't go.
Surely someone will.
Help me!
Silence.
Can't sleep.
Jacqueline McEwan.
Jacqueline wins 2 free bowls of Soul Food from Momma Cherri's Soul Food Shack at the Pleasance Dome. The Plesance / Food Festival Poetry Competition runs daily. The theme is advertised on the poetry board near the box office at the Plesance Dome, in the buckets of inspiration placed randomly on tables in and around the Soul Food Shack there and in the Pleasance Times. Why not enter a poem of your own and see what happens? Good luck!