September 2016
J.C. Elkin
janecelkin@yahoo.com
janecelkin@yahoo.com
I am an optimist, linguist, and singer with a mammoth memory for minutiae. My collection World Class: Poems Inspired by the ESL Classroom (Apprentice House 2014) is based on my experiences teaching English to adult immigrants at Anne Arundel Community College in Maryland. Other poetry and prose drawing on spirituality, feminism, travel, and childhood appear domestically and abroad in such journals as The Delmarva Review, Kestrel, Kansas City Voices, and Angle. www.jcelkin.net
Eating Her Words
Alpha alphabetizes her lists
and shops at the IGA.
She only likes stores with initials
and plans all her meals the same way.
She breakfasts on Alpha-Bits and OJ.
For lunch, BLTs or PB&J.
She buys LU cookies. Her juice is V8.
It’s B&M barbecued beans on her plate.
She loves EZ cheese on toast (FFV),
B&B pickles and PG Tips tea,
VIP veggies and B&G dills,
m&m’s, with a chaser of pink Gas-X pills.
I asked her to dine with me for a change,
then hid every can, every label.
She seems to enjoy my cooking so much
that now she won’t leave my table.
Eating Her Words
Alpha alphabetizes her lists
and shops at the IGA.
She only likes stores with initials
and plans all her meals the same way.
She breakfasts on Alpha-Bits and OJ.
For lunch, BLTs or PB&J.
She buys LU cookies. Her juice is V8.
It’s B&M barbecued beans on her plate.
She loves EZ cheese on toast (FFV),
B&B pickles and PG Tips tea,
VIP veggies and B&G dills,
m&m’s, with a chaser of pink Gas-X pills.
I asked her to dine with me for a change,
then hid every can, every label.
She seems to enjoy my cooking so much
that now she won’t leave my table.
©2016 J.C. Elkin
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