JUST FOR FUN

Reading a post on the Blind Pig today reminded me of this light verse I wrote recently. What do you think of real butter vs. margarine?


ODE TO REAL BUTTER

No margarine or simulated spread
can match your taste dissolving on my tongue,
spread over crisp hard rolls,
seeping into crannies of my English muffins,
melting into steaming morning grits.

When I was a kid, you came like magic,
from milk fresh-squeezed from Jerseys,
skimmed cream, shaken in a quart jar,
come butter, Come butter, come butter come.
Papa’s at the gate with a hot pan cake.

Mother crooned, churned, and I knew
that soon the soft spread, washed
and salted, would appear in a crock,
would saturate hot biscuits on my plate.

Oh, Butter, you are the star of my
taste buds, you glow in yellow glory
on my plate.

Like a teenage girl seeing
that Bieber child with butter
colored hair upon the stage,
I weep with longing for you.

Who is on your A-list? Why?

Do you hate the newly coined word “trending” as much as I do? My blood pressure rises when I open a page on my computer and the sidebar has a block of what is “Trending Now.”

And it gets worse when I see Who or What is “trending now.”

Trending Now

• 1. Selena break up   This child is breaking up with another child – Wow!
• 2. Jamie Lynn Spears
• 3. Mister Rogers
• 4. Casey Anthony
• 5. Bankruptcy        affects millions of people but it is not top of the list
• 6. Jesse James
• 7. Kim Kardashi...Photos
• 8. Foreclosures          People losing homes is not as popular as Justin Bieber
• 9. D.B. Cooper
• 10. Hurricane Eugene   A hurricane in the Pacific – who cares?

What is the definition of trending? Is that another way of saying this is what the dumbed- down American public is obsessed with today? When have you seen someone of substance on the “trending” list? Is that the goal of our culture – to be on the “trending list?”

What must one do to get on the “trending list?” Perhaps one would first need to get on the A-List? What is the A-list and is there a B, C. D, all the way down to XYZ list? Who selects the members of these lists? What are the criteria?

All of this reminds me of an experience I had one summer just after sixth grade. I was sought after by several classmates, girls who wanted to come to the farm and ride my horse and enjoy country life. We had a great time. The mothers of the girls drove them about 15 miles one way so they could come and spend the day with me.

I entered junior high school in the fall as did my friends who clustered with others in their little cliques, but I was not included. Was I “trending” in the summer, but when autumn came and school began, I dropped off the list? Through no fault of my own, did I suddenly drop down to E or F or even G on the “trending” list?

That was when I learned to seek friends with more substance. I had few real friends in high school, but the ones I did have were solid gold. My dear friend, Jeannine, is someone who will always have a special place in my heart. I introduced her to her future husband Jerry. She asked me to be her maid of honor at her wedding a year later. Our friendship lasted all her life. Jeannine met the criteria for my A-List.

Do you have an A-List? What are your criteria for your A-list?

If you were choosing, who would you place on the “trending now” list?