Buffet

Grabbing greed, we’re prowling, pushing
Who will claim the buffet’s crown? Own
as any mean is fair for calories
wobbling through halls and galleries
to grow, be fat, be super-sized.
Meatballs, gravy, mayonnaise
bread and butter, skip the greens
barbecue and chicken-wings
dress it well with lard and beans.

Nudge with elbows, stomping feet
push and probe. raise your fist
sausage fingers dipped in soup
then bring caramel, bring apple pie
bring chocolate sauce, and ice cream scoops.
Clogging arteries, fat the livers
Who will win, who will eat the most?
with purple faces, we then raise to toast
The winner, loser, is the first to die.

© Bibliothèque nationale de France – Gargantua seated before his huge feast, anonymous engraving, 18th century, National Library of France, Paris

Today we are writing about food at dVerse where Sarah hosts. I could not helo it but I had to write about eating too much, The most overlooked cardinal sin.

January 11, 2022

34 responses to “Buffet

  1. This reminds me of an all-inclusive holiday we went on. By the end of the week I was eating grilled fish and salad and not much else! This is so visceral and so grotesque.

  2. A hard, hard voice……coming from the Nordic winter after festivities…but I like the hard voice of this poetry, very much, and the superb phrasing….as for your last line……brilliant

  3. This is absolutely brilliant! From “skip the greens,” to “sausage fingers dipped in soup then bring caramel, bring apple pie,” one can visualize the greed that’s related with food and is so easy to become prey to. Kudos! 💝💝

  4. I believe in the cliche, you are what you eat. “The winner, loser, is the first to die.” Unfortunately monoculture farming practices for food, forestry, textiles, etc. as well as factory farming of animals will be the death of us all.

  5. Some people are a glutton for food, others are a glutton for words. The first type of person is more trustworthy because he follows simple senses. The second type of person offers better conversation, but he holds things back.

    And there is a third type of person who judges the two types and decides which one he’d like to hang out with and aid and assist.

  6. I think this is a perfect poem about buffets. I don’t like to eat at a buffet style restaurant but, when I have, I am amazed by how much food people can eat, lol.

  7. Gluttony is never a pretty sight – your poem paints it ugly and true Björn. ‘Dress it well with lard and beans’ indeed!

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