"Edamame Haiku" by Katie O'Connell King + Asian Panzanella

Think of haiku as today's equivalent of a tweet, in the sense that there's a fixed number of characters you must stick to in order to convey an idea. Instead of 144 characters, you have 17 syllables to make an impression.

Poetry can carry a lot of emotional weight. Its lines can wade through deep territory and cause you to ponder the very things you try to avoid thinking about on a daily basis. It can open a wound or illuminate a small experience, making you grateful for having read it in the first place. But there's also something to be said for the lighthearted, and I think we could use a little bit of that today. This haiku is about the "glossy tender bean" edamame, and describes some of the humor involved in eating them.

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"A Winter Morning" by Ted Kooser + Overnight Steel Cut Oats

Except for "the kettle's whisper," mornings are for quietness, waking up slow, easing into the day. It sounds a little dreamy, doesn't it? I know my mornings aren't always this tranquil, but come Saturday or Sunday, it's easier to enjoy spending time in the kitchen just after the sun comes up. And I'd better get to sharing this poem before we get too far into the warmer weather.

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10 Things | April

Wine tasting at Rusack Vineyard

I just couldn't resist. There are too many wonderful blog posts, links, photographs, and ideas floating around every month that I wanted to round them up in a new series called "10 Things." This will also give me a chance to mention non-poetry things, too, or poems that aren't food-focused. I hope you'll indulge me and enjoy taking a peek at my world every month!

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"The Residency" by David Yezzi + Scrambled Eggs with Red Pepper Puree

We creative types need to stick together, don't we? There's nothing better that knowing you are part of a community of like-minded people who get inspired and excited by the same things that drive you. When I started blogging in 2008, I was unaware of the community I was entering, and that I would actually make genuine friendships from it. I thought about all this because of two things: a poem and a magazine article. Though unrelated, the poem happened to be placed in the middle of an article about loneliness in the age of social media. The poem is about a writer's residency, and the experience of communing with other artists in a somewhat isolated environment, in this case, in the woods, in a cabin with a writing table.

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"Why I Am Not a Painter" by Frank O'Hara + Sardine and White Bean Salad

Some artists board themselves up in a room for weeks until the canvas or the typewriter inspires them. Others obsessively carry notebooks so that ideas can be captured the moment it strikes. Some go on retreats in the woods or by the sea, cut off from their digital lives for weeks at a time. Others look for it in their daily lives, in small doses that fit between work and school and errands.

The creative process has always been somewhat of a mystery, mostly because it affects each of us differently, and it can take years to fully understand how your own creativity ebbs and flows. One day, Frank O'Hara decided to write a poem about this very topic. "Why I Am Not a Painter" invites us in as if we are a friend sitting across from him at the dinner table, having a conversation.

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