Best Red Pepper Poems
Mama ate her collard greens with raw onions, pinching a
morsel of greens with sweet cornbread, as juicy pork
neckbones lay naked of meat.
The sweetness of life, like sweet Kool Aid fills our tummies,
while dishes await scrapes of scraps for the family pet; Tuffy.
A simpler time, when gas was priceless at $.75 a gallon-
and exhaust fumes were free.
Corner, Jewish owned stores amass nickels for pounds of salt
pork, fat-back and tabs for grits, Wonder Bread and sardines,
pennies for cookies, salted peanuts float atop RC Cola bottles,
while the neighbor; Miss Sally spits “bacca,” in a old tin can.
We sprint as Wilma Rudolph to tab a gallon of milk, after biting
a red pepper disguised as an ornament hanging from Daddy’s bush,
while I scratch melanin legs infested with sand-sores, from making
mud pies.
Strolls cross the railroad tracks on Saturdays offer rare window peeks,
as the Christmas parade showcases the only ***** High School
steppin high, erect and purposed, as integration passes the house.
Time creeps unaware of bigotry, racism, poverty and out-voted segregation.
Time welcomed newborns of newly born future stars shining dimly while
dressed in blackness to affirm cultural change.
One ,Won, Once
By Chuck Keys
Brightness can be blinding
With your eyes closed
Or with your eyes open.
Darkness can be blinding
With your eyes closed
Or with your eyes open.
As a driveway needs a parked car,
Does color make a difference? Hurtfully
Yes. Yet, we're all the same.
Can a green pepper ever be red?
Or should the
Red pepper be yellow? Color again.
Can't stop hearing that surface beat. Loudly.
It’s constant and demanding, with
Painful colors.
Can you hear it too? It’s so loud,
Obvious. Audaciously clear,
Mostly passed over.
We all bleed red;
Cry tears,
Love, fear,
Hate, ache,
Want, need,
Eat, drink, chew,
Live and die, regardless,
Same insides.
Crayons are different colors,
We want them all, in one box.
A complete set.
Separate is never equal.
When we become one
Only one is won.
Once should be f ‘ever.
© Charles H Keys, 2010. All Rights Reserved
THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN
it started out white
but the late snow was weeks old.
results were a fright –
those red pepper lips, corn teeth,
tomato ketchup eyes,
the tire-track forehead,
the oil and grit in his cheeks –
my roadside snowman.
and those dried apricot ears
been in the pantry for years
abominable! –
chest a tattered cardboard box,
gloves were threadbare sox
on discarded broomstick arms –
my roadside snowman
save demise for last –
the tall, wide-brimmed plastic hat
was what did him in.
when the morning sun came out
just everything went flat
what a sorry sight
that vegetable salad
in a muddy drool,
with young springtime’s merry sun
the ruin of late winter’s fun
i prepared a simple supper
but with great love i cooked
that main meat of refined wheat
durum semolina, traded as rotini
an Italian pasta to go with beef, a grace
from a Canadian cow grazed in prairie grass,
spiced with herbs from the hunted tropics:
ginger, garlic, turmeric, and coriander
powdered, with red pepper powder
and red pepper crushed, black pepper
(also powdered), added to the onion
chopped, fennel, fenugreek, and cumin
(all seeds), and the magical mustard,
adding leaves chopped: basil, chives
and parsley, with garam masala, a Bharat
special, sprinkled with hardly a pinch of salt
before adding the slow-cooked African beans
and Mexican sauce: chopped and crushed tomato,
and boiled potato, after being sautéed
in the US canola oil to enhance the taste
of minerals and more already in my pan:
folate, iron, niacin, riboflavin, and thiamine
already mixed in carbohydrate, the main
with Chinese additives: citric, soy, and seasonings
unlisted; likewise the two sealed cans
that curtailed my sprinkling salt for supper
came with corn starch, sugar, more spices
and blackstrap molasses, and a poetic muse
Cabbage is pickled in a glass jar with plenty of red pepper.
Buried underground, it lies undisturbed as it ferments away.
It takes several months of aging before what we have is Korean “kim-chee“.
One pot Cajun pasta
We are going to totally enjoy this one hot spicy Cajun pasta
Easy to make for a weekend meal
The sense of smell explores our food before we eat it
Oh, I cannot wait to gorge on this tasty warm meal
Just start throwing all your ingredients in a big pot
Start with a
2 tablespoons of olive oil
Two chicken breast cut in chunks sizzling to a nice brown
mix in
One part cayenne pepper
One part paprika
One part garlic
One part salt
One part pepper
Or just use 1 tablespoon premade Cajun spice seasoning
All the colors just make me anxious to savory the taste
Stir in 8 ounces Andouille sausage
The aroma swirls like a mist through the air tickling my nose with savory spicy aromatic comforting smell before the food reaches the mouth and we can taste it.
Stir
Three cloves garlic
A half slice onion
One sliced red pepper
One sliced green pepper
2 cups sliced mushrooms
And stir sauté
Aroma infiltrates through the whole house, enticing everyone in the house
1 pound pasta
5 cups chicken broth
Stir and let it bring to a boil
Simmer for 10 min. and stir every 2 min.
It spicy Cajun aroma makes me so hungry just smelling it stewing
Add a half cup heavy cream
Stir 1 cup Parmesan cheese
Garnish with chives and grated Parmesan cheese
Whoohoo! Tasty!!!
9/30/2015
Sponsored by: TAMMY REAMS
Contest Name: Didactic Food
I love your acsent' it makes me want to kiss you!
16 fillet catfish/ or seabass
1/4 cup of McCormick seasoning
2 Tablespoons of garlic powder
2 Tablespoons of onion powder
3 tablespoons of cayenne pepper
mix well and set aside
1/2 cup of olive oil
1/2 melted butter
1/4 cup lime juice
coat both sides of each fillet with oil and butter
sprinkle seasoning atop
bake in a 350 degree oven until fish are flakey and done
8 cups of cooked cous cous( soaked in 1 cup of buttermilk)
3 cups of goats cheese
2 cups of heavy cream
2 cups of béchamel sauce
1/2 melted butter
1/2 cup of fresh chives
5 tablespoons of crushed garlic
2 cup of oven roasted turkey bacon ( cook into bits)
1/3 cup of diced fine green peppers (sautéed)
1/3 cup of crushed sun dried tomatoes
12/3 saute'd onion
1 & 1/2 cup of white cheddar
2 tablespoons of red pepper flakes
combine ingredients and bake for 25 minutes
slice fillets from a leg of lamb
about twenty slices
salt and pepper
grill (medium rare)
in a pan combine
1/3 cup of beef broth
1 cup of pomegranate juice
1/4 cup of honey
1/4 cup of lime juice
5 tablespoons of chopped rosemary
3 tablespoons of cayenne pepper
1/3 cup of sweet red wine
1 cup of unsalted pistachios
reduce sauce about half
add lamb and serve
FOR DESSERT
5 CUPS OF BROWNIE MIXED ( MIXED USING BOX RECIPE)
4 CUPS OF ANGEL FOOD ( USING BOX RECIPE)
24 DOLLOPS OF CREAM CHEESE
IN A GREASED NON-STICK MUFFIN PAN, SPOON IN TWO TABLE SPOONS OF BROWNIE MIX
AND LAYER IT WITH THE ANGEL FOOD MIX, (ABOUT 2 TABLESPOONS)
HALFWAY FULL ADD CREAM CHEESE
COVER WITH BROWNIE AND ANGEL FOOD MIX
BAKE UNTIL DONE, USING A TOOTH PICK TO CHECK
COOL MUFFINS, TOP WITH FAVORITE FROSTING AND SERVE
IN
WE BASSOON'D THE FOOD WAS DONE: SO WE ATE IT!
WE DRUMMED AND OBO'D THRU THE NIGHT
ASSUMING WE WOODWIND: WE DID!
WE DID !
As I stagger to my room…my vision in a haze and my guts steering like a stew, my eyes
look like a ripe red pepper and my bladder is filled up like a sponge that fell into a pool.
My whole life has been one great big inaugural ball, with only one exception… I was the
candidate that no one would ever choose…never mind the formalities just pass me the
booze.
A bottle of Chardonnay or be it a can of old Pabst Blue Ribbon beer? Never mind the time of
day…its noon somewhere in the world today, just pour me a drink and let me party like it
was 1999 all over again.
Hell, my day starts with me looking into a half full glass of whatever is my drink of the day
before and ends with one half filled the same way it began once I pass out. Dude my family
just never seems to leave me alone…it’s always, “Bob you’ve had one too many” and blah…
blah or something like that, man I don’t remember it’s all a daze in my head.
Before I use to be the center of attention at all the family functions, now I’m the last to know
when the next one will come or when one has passed. Man…just past me the damn bottle
and I’ll tell them where they can all hold their next get together without me?
In a hot place called…Hell! My ex can bar me from my own home, but she can’t bar me from
the local bar…she can keep my dog and the damn kids too, as long as she gives me beer
glass collection with those Klondike horses racing thru the snow!
I don’t care…anymore, just leave me alone and pass me by if you see me lying in some
gutter on the street. I don’t care…anymore, just let me live my life in a bottle and I’ll keep
my broken heart there too.
The young giraffe ate a hot red pepper
The poor animal felt like a leper.
The spicy fruit was too hot and it took
Her long to digest for some greens to hook.
The zoo keeper called it a Giraffe Park.
Ostriches buried their heads in the dark.
The ostrich wanted to say I'm sorry,
Took too long for its neck just to worry.
The ostrich and the giraffe meant to race.
They came neck to neck and both had great pace
Medals won. Giraffe needed a ladder.
Guard fell from a height, it did not matter.
A new male giraffe was brought to the zoo
Lovingly they twined their necks through and through.
Soon life took its course with a baby boy.
The ostrich buried its head with no joy.
The man boiled his manifesto
with dry red pepper and ginger
those who taste it, young and old
shade tears of wit at table
Red pepper is a kind fire
burning without flames
causing eyes to rain without clouds
sitting on own cool hot stool
never causing wild bush-fire
giving suckling babies hot raw deals
but raising appetites of celebrants
cruel in hands of enemies
in a hot skillet
add olive oil
garlic
persimmons
onions
sauté unitl onions are translucent
add apples
fresh ginger
cabbage
mushrooms
(wilt cabbage)
remove from pan,
in the same skillet
add ground duck and ground lamb
stir to brown
add cumin, rosemary
sprinkle salt, cayenne
and bourbon
add veggies back in the pan
stir until the mixture is less drier
than it was at start.
one large pork lion.
about 5 pounds, with the butcher strings around.
using a dowel
stuff the loin with the stuffing to
fill the bottom to the top
sprinkle cayen, salt garlic and onion powder top the surface area of the loin
bake at 360 for about 1 and a half hours.
..............................................
the sauce for the pork
1 cup of vanilla ice-cream
2 cups of pork stock
1/2 cup of masala
4 tablespoons of olive oil
1 cup o9f caramelized onions
1/4 cup of green peppers
1 tablespoon of garlic
1 tablespoon of red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon of thyme
1/4 cup of chopped parsley
in a sauce pan heat olive oil add green peppers, garlic, add onions. add pork stock and reduce, add ice-cream and masala, and reduce further, add parsley and thyme and remove from heat.
severe with mash potatoes!
The spice in the curry mirrors my anger.
Angry of being a part of a race with no peace.
The small bits of red pepper scatter
Like the blood of the innocent.
An explosion of heat burns my tongue
Like the bombs do their victims.
Innocent tongues…
Who will never speak of peace
Nor taste a meal again.
Most night
I spend them counting, in thoughts
Like being trap inside a cocoon; it’s dark and quiet
It’s a little daunting
It’s why I always have my eyes closed
But, I could still see everything, as light as day
A little like the sun but calmer like the grin of the moon
Starry like the pebbles in the ocean floor, twinkling
Feeling a little cold like ice but burns like red pepper in my mouth
Although, soft to my skin, giggly like bubbles, underwater
I’m not drowning but more like flying, upside down
Nimble as a feather
It tethers like footsteps, one after the other
It gets bigger, growing far, so fast-upward
Like looking at a mirror from the inside
Distorted like cartoons
But real like a stomach ache
Not so much as painful as it is stimulating
Like a giant, tying a roller coaster, into knot
Roaring like thunder, continuously
It doesn’t stop
I didn’t want it to stop
Because it was sensibly addicting
In a good way
Like listening to a joke for the first time
Knowing, that you actually got the point
And the point is very inspiring like firecrackers
Pop, pop, pop
And this is when I open my eyes…
By: Wilbert Dela Cruz
Frosty's squeeze was Freckles Snow
and frosty saw her well.
Her button eyes would warm his heart
and leave him weak to tell.
Her smile was like a clever seal
with lips in brilliant red.
The two of them red pepper stands
to knock a snowman dead.
Her nose was just a little thimble
cute enough to thrill.
Her head topped off with rhubarb bands
this red-heads looks could kill.
A bonnet sat on top her head.
It knitted and it stitched.
A strap below her under-chin
to see that it stayed hitched.
For such a lovely snowman
Freckles surely earned her name.
Some thirty dots per cheekbone
of black pepper on this dame.
The hottest freckles on the snow
that Frosty'd ever seen.
And Freckles blushing modestly,
attractive to the scene.
A woman Frosty cherished dear.
Her looks not all there was.
For Frosty knew of Freckle's love
and warming that it does.
When at that time began to melt
down-poring from above.
When Freckles noticed he was gone
and Frosty was in love.
So on that day a puddle sat
down at Freckles feet.
But don't be sad cause Freckles cried
and both went down in heat.
Now Freckles Snow and Frosty Snowman
are puddles in the street.
Them both remembered for going away
that once again they'll meet.