The more realistic
flavors of love:
bitter and sweet.
It seems
to be asking
for a little
alteration,
for the addition
of this
or the removal
of that. I try to stay
attentive
to this. I love
the long, twisted
red leaves
of some varieties.
A woman
came up to me
and said:
“I’ve got a tree
full of quinces
in my garden
but I don’t do anything
with them. I am scared
of quince.”
keep the skin
a good grind
just gamble
serve at once
serve at once
serve at once

Source: YotamOttolenghi, “Plenty: Vibrant Vegetable Recipes from London’s Ottolenghi”, 2011.

Method: I had never written a found poem and wanted to try something different. I took what I had sitting closest to me in the kitchen where I write and went from there—a cookbook, a recently purchased coffee-table book that I had been reading, a new plant with its directions on how to care for it, and a love letter on my computer from a friend. Voila.

Marjorie Thomsen’s poetry collection, “Pretty Things Please” (Turning Point, 2016), gets its title from asking Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project to name all that she cannot since they come up with great names for their beers. A Pushcart Prize nominee, Thomsen’s poems have received awards from the New England Poetry Club and The University of Iowa School of Social Work. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.