"A baked dish of fruit, or meat and vegetables, typically with a top and base of pastry"
Mother is a pie
An apple pie
A pumpkin pie
A pecan pie
A pizza pie
The number pi
A pie sliced into infinite parts
Mother is a pie
Sitting on the center
Of the round kitchen table
Surrounded by hungry children
With napkins folded into their shirts
And silver forks clasped in their tiny hands
They bang them on the table
Demanding another slice of pie
Mother does her best to comply
Everyone cries out at the injustices
“Why is her slice bigger than mine!?”
And “his has more frosting” and “how unfair”
Even though pie
Should not have frosting in the first place
And Mother never said life would be fair
Hungry kids prepare
For apple pie
Pumpkin pie
Cherry pie
Lemon meringue pie
Chocolate mousse pie
Pretending they are all just:
Cutie pies
Honey pies
Sweetie pies
In reality:
Mud pies
Who do these greedy needy Snot running down their teary faces Spoiled children think they are? To protest and riot For slices of pie Like it’s a human right In their checkered red and white Diner world Nevertheless they protest with pitchforks They stand wobbly on kitchen chairs Pulling each other’s hair Pinching each other’s arms Kicking each other’s legs Screaming until they’re hoarse Screaming for pie Screaming for pie Screaming for pie Then receiving a slice and screaming for more Apple pie Pumpkin pie 3.14 Pizza pie Pecan pie Even if it was bought from the store Key lime pie Peach pie A pie chart Just one measly morsel more And the pie Torn apart from every side (If pies had sides) Is exhausted Is starving Is lonely in an aluminum tin Left on the table, numb Not a single child Left over a single crumb
My favorite line in this poem is "Even though pie / should not have frosting in the first place" — it made me genuinely smile. I also really like the scene described. I wonder about the inclusion of pi, and also about the list of pies in general. I wonder if the poem would be more powerful if it just consisted of the third, fourth, and fifth stanzas, leaving the rest of the poem up to the audience to understand. I think they would get it...
ReplyDeleteDisregard the cutting comment! Wonderful poem and I love this as it is
DeleteThis poem fits beautifully with our next class theme: poems of the family, which we will discuss in class Monday. This poem is built from a line of homespun absurdism: "my mother is a pie." I like that line a lot. I like how the poem gives itself room to stretch out and improvise. This poem doesn't feel like it needs to edited down, but I could imagine it longer. It might be fun to get even wilder with the follow-ups to the anaphora. I enjoyed the wordplay here, as between "pie" and "comply" in stanza two. A witty and engaging poem.
ReplyDeletethis is so fun!!!! i love the line "like it's a human right." there is something about this poem that reminds me of a children's book and i would love to see it illustrated!
ReplyDeleteI love how creative this is! and how the poem balances being a lot of fun but also kind of sad because of how real it feels. and I love how the poem rambles because it fits with the nature of the kids but also makes longer lines that much stronger.
ReplyDeleteThis was very well done. I liked the way you used pie, which is usually fun and even here comes across as playfully, to depict something slightly more sinister.
ReplyDelete