Poetry at the Post: Bourbon Chocolate Cake, Oxford, MS & Erasure

Today’s NaPoWriMo assignment is to take a text—and via the process of erasure—form a poem. Short on time and feeling hungry, I pulled out one of those little gems from my cookbook bookcase—you know one of those books you received years ago  as a gift  but you’ve never actually gotten around to using.

Square Table produced by the Yoknapatawpha (sound familiar?) Arts Council in Oxford, MS is full of recipes dripping with Southern hospitality plus plenty of fat-the delicious kind. There is even the recipe for those to-die-for cheese grits from Ajax Diner. (If you’ve ever been in Oxford and had these artery-clogging grits, you are probably already drooling as you read this.)

Square Table is more than a cookbook. It is also a literary journal with the likes of William Faulkner, Willie Morris, John Grisham, Beth Ann Fenley, and Ace Atkins—all writers with ties to Oxford. There are some interesting facts in the side columns as well.

In the late 1930’s, Oxford has an actual rainmaker, Miss Lily Stoate.

Some lovely photography by Langdon Clay and original artwork by local artists sprinkled in make this book a winner.

Hotty Toddy Tanka by Alice-Catherine Jennings

Quick yoga, five oms

bourbon w/ some heavy whipped

cream—strong hot coffee 

bits of bittersweet chocolate

morning game, the grove 

Does Square Table include a tailgating menu?  Now, seriously, what do you think?

Are you ready?