Jasmine Poems

This food poem was written by hipster Jasmine Rudolph, freshwoman at Walden School.

Industrial Food

I am supposed to write a poem about food

But how can I,

The girl that grew up

On Tyson Chicken Nuggets, Kraft Mac n' Cheese,

Stand a chance

Against all of these liberal students

Speaking of such sophisticated foods

In such a nonchalant manner.

How can I not feel intimidated

When they speak of Italian gelato, mole from San Miguel?

I grew up with Tweety-bird Popsicles and Taco Bell.

They say to write about what you know.

Well this is what I don’t know.

*

When you eat gelato

are you thinking about the taste,

just waiting to get home and fill in the blanks

of the description category

for your food blog?

Or are you like me,

thinking of nothing

but how good the cold sticky

mound of chemicals on a stick

feel dripping off of my chin?

By the time you receive your mole

at your hip, backstreet Mexican restaurant

how do you take the time to memorize

and savor every flavor?

By the time I pull into the Taco Bell drive-through window

I could practically eat the wrapping around my 90¢ beef burrito.

They may say to write about what you know,

but I can write so much more about what I don’t.