Photo: Bulalo
November 10, 2019
The teevee is man's best friend
during lockdowns,
when we are feeling sad,
unable
to move around.
Surfing to find wha'ts fun
and truly entertaining,
we have become couch potatoes
all day long.
But there's this program
that caught my fancy.
Of children who have
made the kitchen their
playground, happy.
Cooking dishes under
the master's hands,
and truly they have
become Master Chefs
Australia, Junior.
Beyond the judging
and chicanery of cooking
lies a hidden chef's poetry.
The children were poets
garbed in their aprons,
armed with sharp knives,
a plethora of ingredients,
and the menu for the day.
The challenge is to create
a tasteful dish that satiates
the judges' culinary tastes.
And pressured with time
the junior chefs are all agog,
create the dish fit for a king
with an elegant plating
to impress the judges,
all certified master chefs,
with years of experience.
Where is poetry in cooking?
It is in being able to create
a dish out of something.
A work of art that delights
not only an empty stomach
but uplifts a broken spirit.
So is literary poetry.
The poet's challenge
is to create his literary piece
from thoughts and ideas
and string them like jewel
to satisfy the erudite literati,
who will judge it accordingly.
There is no dish that fails
the master chef's litmus test.
Under his palate, the tastes
of food activates the glands.
It knows what is sweet,
pungent or simply bland.
But the chef also discerns
good food by its appearance,
when it is tastefully arranged
in a clean plate like art.
These things aren't all the parameters for what is good or bad cooking. Because
what tastes good for the moose
is badly cooked for the goose.
And so in literary poetry,
there is neither good nor bad poetry
as we have different tastes
and varying levels of interpretation borne out of our education,
experience, and love for the art.
Filipino Poets in Blossoms
August 6, 2021
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