Poetry Friday: "Ode to Chocolate" by Barbara Crooker

Each morning, before I let in emails, peek at texts, hold my breath for the news, or face the general insanity of our current world, I let in poetry. 

Sip of black coffee, a poem. Another sip, and another. Two more poems. I sip my way through a collection, savoring, rereading, soaking in language, reflection, truth. Poems steep me in laughter, angst, recognition, melancholy, nostalgia, determination, resolve, appreciation. Humanity. 

Through poetry, I am steeped in humanity. 

I just finished Naomi Shihab Nye's Grace Notes and now I'm revisiting Barbara Crooker's Some Glad Morning. It's packed with goodness, so do buy it. (It's National Poetry Month — buy all the poetry you can.) The poem I'm sharing today isn't in this particular collection but odes to chocolate are evergreen, universal, and as necessary as air. ("Ode to Chocolate" appears in Crooker's book More.) Swoon with me, won't you? 

Ode to Chocolate
by Barbara Crooker

I hate milk chocolate, don't want clouds
of cream diluting the dark night sky,
don't want pralines or raisins, rubble
in this smooth plateau. I like my coffee
black, my beer from Germany, wine
from Burgundy, the darker, the better.
I like my heroes complicated and brooding,

....

(Read the rest here.) 

You might also like this conversation between Crooker and Elizabeth Berg, from 2021: 

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The Poetry Friday round-up this week is hosted by Irene Latham at Live Your Poem. 

Photo courtesy of StockSnap at Pixabay.