Chipotle
Sometimes it pauses and the light
translates what we’ve lost,
momentarily framing the taste
entering our bodies through
mouth and nose and eye,
the knowledge of dissolution
enhanced. One bite
and it all returns: fire, peat,
water, the retracted
flesh become another’s
endeavor, as if giving form
to the world of air.
Without remorse,
we steal its most intimate self.
Bob, of all the poems on the subject of chipotle, this one has the most bite! 🙂
Ron
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Yes, in that great sub-genre of dried chile poems, I have to agree that this is one of the spicier ones I’ve seen…
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Hmmmm…seems I have overestimated my good friend…I thought your reply would be just peppered with atrocious puns! 🙂
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Ancho got nuthin better to do, Ron?
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Well said. Although I don’t like chipotle. Funny because I like chili Mexican style.
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I love chipotles, especially in adobo sauce, though I am also partial to poblanos. Life would be dull without them.
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making me hungry!
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I suggest an herb-rubbed, grilled pork tenderloin with a cranberry chipotle sauce, served with corn pudding and perhaps an asparagus salad, accompanied by a glass of woody pinot.
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Omg ,,, m so hungry right now
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At 6:18 a.m. I’d have to recommend a breakfast of eggs flavored a tad with Sriracha sauce and scrambled with a mixture of diced onion, jalapeno and red pepper, folded into a tortilla with a crispy slice of bacon and some shredded gruyere, and topped with a homemade (of course) red salsa.
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Reading your poem, I swear I could taste it. ^_^
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But don’t bite too deeply!
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totally
hot 🙂
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Ah, yes. The sweat is dripping off my forehead, even on this chilly (chile?) night.
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If Julie Child had been a poet, you’d be a Chipolte off the old the block. Well done. 🙂
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I cayennen’t say it better than that!
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Serrano’s time now, so you guys back off a bit!
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love this poem and all of the pun-filled comments. Great job!
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Thank you!
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I wish I had a pun to throw in with the rest of those peppered throughout the conversation, but I can’t take the heat…afraid that I don’t have as much fire as the rest of you. Love the photo!
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Then I think you should just relax and chile. 🙂
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Yum!
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Ditto!
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Oh, my! A good bite! Good taste, eh? hehe …
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Oh, yes. Take another, please!
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Reblogged this on Trish Hopkinson and commented:
Love this latest poem by fellow poet and blogger Robert Okaji. Also make sure to check out three of his poems recently published in http://thebluehourmagazine.com/2014/12/28/3-poems-by-robert-okaji/. And if you like these poems, make sure to follow his blog so you don’t miss out!
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Thanks for reblogging this, Trish, and for the Blue Hour plug. Much appreciated!
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My pleasure. It’s beautiful work Robert!
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very good poetry thankyou for liking mine
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How could I not like yours? Thanks for stopping by.
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thankyou keep up the good work
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That is the hope!
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Even a certain New Englander with a bland suburban palate has good enough taste to appreciate this poem.
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In general I habanero view of such modesty, but will make an exception in this case. 🙂
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Beautiful. And if you ever do a poem about its little sister, Jalapeño, that would be sweet. May I reblog to “Tales of Unwise Paths?”
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Thank you! Yes, certainly, feel free to reblog.
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Many thanks. 🙂
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Apologies. I couldn’t reblog – so I’ve posted a copy with a link. Thanks again.
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Thanks for the plug!
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My pleasure. Happy to have discovered your work.
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Having lived in Puebla for three years, I, too am partial to poblanos–but you have captured the magnificent moment of tasting chipotle. I wonder, though: do we steal its intimate self, or–sometimes at least–enter a moment of shared intimate vulnerability?
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Great question. Perhaps a bit of both. At the very least, we alter its intimate self. Hmmm.
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“as if giving form/ to the world of air.” That was just terrific. . . and true!
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Chipotles are rather metaphysical entities…
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Very interesting. 🙂
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Thank you! Nothing like biting into a chile!
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Strong opening and close. There is something understated about this thing that is so obviously potent and cogent (which the title testifies to). Quite like it, R.
Diana
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Thank you, Diana. I find food fascinating – what we do with basic pieces to make complex, potent (to use your word) wholes – and trying to get to an understanding of our intent, our actions.
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Awesome.
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Incr…edible!
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Ha! Thank you.
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Nice! You just gave me an idea for my next imagery workshop!
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Glad to help!
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Love this poem! “without remorse we steal its most intimate self” Don’t we though.
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Thank you. But chipotles often get their revenge…
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Reblogged this on rachelmurane and commented:
So simple, austere, beautiful. Simply lovely
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Thank you, Rachel. I appreciate the reblog.
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Living in Mexico, I’ve learned to keep it away from my nose and eyes – occasionally
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I have on numerous occasions forgotten that I’ve been handling peppers. Not a pleasant experience…
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Very tasty poem. Left me longing for peppers. Seriously, though. Very well written!!!
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Thanks, Kenne. I think roasted jalapenos stuffed with goat cheese, smoked chicken and pine nuts would be tasty!
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Just as we gain our motivations in expense of devouring others’ passionate ways. The more we absorb their energies, the more we must start thinking of ways to give back… (And without this the ones giving away passion for other’s amusement loses its original form of passion.) I love the depth of this poem. Thank you for sharing.
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Oh, yes. The give and take!
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: )
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You write very well. I enjoy your punny humor. My readers are midlife women in transition…Can’t reblog-thanks, too for stopping by!
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Thank you for stopping by.
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Chipotle is rare for us in Oz — though I’ve got a deep love of chili born of raiding the plants as a 4YO,… apparently, they’re hot!? ” Delicious, not hot.” I reply…and I shouldn’t pick and eat them all, blah-dy blah. OMG, your poetry! Thank you.
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Thank you, Robyn. We’ve not had much success growing jalapenos, or I might try to make my own chipotle. But it’s readily available here. 🙂
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Hi robert. Nice to hear from you. Thank you very much for liking my poem ‘ Warming!’ Best Wishes. The Foureyed Poet.
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Good to hear from you, too. Thanks very much.
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Clearly, I was destined to read this today, having just put a hunk of chuck into the refrigerator in preparation for the next batch of chili. We just tested a pressure-cooker recipe for chili that we really like, and it uses both straight chipotles en adobo and a batch of salsa, which in our house is store-bought stuff that I enhance with—you guessed it—more of the same. Finished off the last meal of the chili two days ago and went right back to buy more beef for another batch. Smoke ’em if you’ve got ’em!
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I recently made one with braised beef and pork. No chipotles in adobo, but still quite tasty! On occasion I make my own chipotle powder, and invariably inhale a bit of it when I open the spice grinder. The price of impatience, I suppose. Yes! Smoke ’em if you got ’em!
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That’s a beautiful poem. At first I thought this was going to be about the redstaurant! Silly me.
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Thank you. I think a poem about the restaurant would be quite different. 🙂
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Excellent poem, but I almost wonder if it’s about something other than Chipotle. Is it an anagram? But it’s not about Politech. Probably not about “chile pot”. And it’s certainly not a traditional acrostic. There are three W’s in the first lines, but there is no acrostic there. It just fizzles out after http://www.teastem…can‘t do anything with the leftovers (memfte). So it just must be another Okaji original, and the mystery is in the effect of the words upon the reader.
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Well, chipotle peppers were the starting point…
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I KNEW it! My first thought, to paraphrase Freud, is that sometimes a pepper is just a pepper. But you are always so multi-layered, it led to reading, and re-reading, until the clues were revealed.
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Chipotles are very “layered” in flavor. And hey, I never knew that Freud smoked peppers. 🙂
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