by Kevin Coupe
This may be a first for MNB … a link to a poem about food.
More than just food, actually. Tortillas, specifically. Which, if you ask me, is the food item as worthy as any of poetry.
The piece is called "Ode To Tortillas, A Poem for Sunday," it is in The Atlantic, and is written by José Olivarez.
It starts this way:
there’s two ways to be a Mexican writer
that we’ve discovered so far.
you can be the Mexican writer who writes about tortillas
or you can be the Mexican writer who writes about croissants
instead of the tortillas on their plate.
(can you be a Mexican writer if you’re allergic to corn?)
You can read the entire poem here.
Spoiler alert. Here's how the poem ends:
my people: if i have children, i will teach them about tortillas, but i’m sure they’ll want McDonald’s.
