Mmm Mmm! Monday - Fair Food

On the Eerie Appeal of Fair Food
by Jennifer Rock
 O food-on-a-stick – ephemeral culinary delight,
As the Tilt-a-Whirl with whose shadow you fuse,
You vanish with autumn’s first light,
O pronto pup, O ostrich on a stick, my muse.
I’m with you and I’m flushed, flourishing –
O food-on-a-stick, I so adore you: hot, saucy, deep, fried.
All that is destructive and nourishing,
Meets in your composition – finds home on my thighs.
Frozen, with a stem: chocolate banana, key lime pie.
Searing-hot (mac & cheese, crocodile) on twig, in greasy haze.
I curl my fingers ‘round your wood and sigh.
Now let me count the ways.
I love you … Logistically. Silverware and plates? Not.
Cleanly. Never with gummy, soiled fingers fraught.
Creatively. Food as puppetry, I’ve bought.
Childishly. Fruit or meat as lollipop? I am all at once a tot.
O skewered food: egg roll, Snickers Bar with handle
Deep-fried Twinkie, calzone, teriyaki gnu
O food-on-a-stick – summertime Americana – like sock with sandal.
Waving proudly, high on pole. I salute you.