Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Gregory K. - I Went to the Farm Where Spaghetti Is Grown

I Went to the Farm Where Spaghetti Is Grown
by
Gregory K.

I went to the farm where spaghetti is grown
In rows of long vines in a field of its own.
It grows in the shade of the great ziti trees,
Right next to the bushes that grow mac-and-cheese.
Lasagna plants bloom alongside manicotti,
And orchards of angel hair grow long and knotty.
I watched as a tractor plowed rows of linguini,
And cheered at the harvest of fresh tortellini.
I helped as the farmer cleared fields full of weeds
Then planted a crop using orzo as seeds.
We watered his land that was miles across
Then fertilized amply with meatballs and sauce.
When I left that farm where spaghetti is grown
In rows of long vines in a field of its own,
I thought it the greatest place under the sky...
'Til I saw the farm where they only grow pie!

©2009 Gregory K. Pincus. All rights reserved.


Gregory K. is the nom de blog of me, Greg Pincus (or Gregory K. Pincus, Dad, or Library Guy depending on where you run into me or who you are). It's also the name on the poems of mine you'll find here and many other places, too. I've been writing poetry since I can remember and while I won't try, as I've done with other poets this month, to explain what I like about the posted poem or a body of work (because, well, that'd be odd!), I will note that I've found that I have common subject areas that I've been playing with a long, long time: sports, food, school, and friends and family among them. I'm fascinated by words and images and love pushing and twisting them around to try them out in different settings, so to speak. And like Lee Bennett Hopkins, I love chocolate!

I can truly say that it's an honor for me to share the page here with 29 poets whose work I admire so much. It's been a wonderfully fun month for me so far, I'm happy to have my contribution up today, and I look forward to bringing you the rest of 30 Poets/30 Days.

Yesterday gave us My Teacher by Jane Yolen. Tomorrow on Earth Day... My Green Grandfather by Janet Wong!

34 comments:

Laurie said...

Do you have mapquest directions to either the spaghetti or the pie farm? I'm hungry.

:-)

Thanks for sharing your wonderful work and thanks also for setting up the 30 days and 30 poets. A poem every morning all month is wonderful!

Sriram said...

I love this poem :-)

Kelly Polark said...

Cute! And when can I visit those farms?!

Lee Wind, M.Ed. said...

Yay! I've been waiting all month for YOUR poem - and it was worth it! Go Greg, Go!
One of your many fans,
Lee

THALIA CHALTAS said...

Greg, I am so happy with the image of an angel hair orchard with the pasta growing "long and knotty" and wish you had taken a photo or two... Poems do make me think in new directions, and yours makes me want to visit and walk around. A whole farm of pasta-y things, sigh... Wonderful stuff!

~Thalia

Mark Swift said...

just got back from Italy and actually know what all those pastas look like now! Great poem--I'm going to share it with my nephew who LOVES spaghetti.
-Mark

Anonymous said...

now i want pasta!

-Rachel

Anonymous said...

Great poem. Thanks!

tanita✿davis said...

Oh, trippy -- I actually SAW A SPOOF MOVIE about this that was from the fifties -- it's a British film that went down as one of the best April Fool's Day jokes of all time. People believed spaghetti grew on trees for quite awhile. Crazy!

I love the orzo seeds. Classic!!

joyce said...

Rhyming "knotty" and "manicotti" is sheer brilliance. Loved the poem!

latebloomingmom said...

Pasta-riffic!
Kept making me smile (and making me hungry). I want to see pictures of this ...

Barbara Bietz said...

So when the kids insist that pasta is a vegetable we know who to blame :)

Great to see you at Writer's Day!

Barbara B

Deb said...

Creative and unique! What a tasty treat.

Sarah Stevenson said...

I saw that Swiss Spaghetti Harvest film on YouTube recently, too--I immediately thought of that when I read this...though I personally prefer your poem.

Sherrie Petersen said...

What a great poem, Greg! I love it! Can I print it out and read it to my kids classes at school? I know they would get a kick out of it :^)

christine M said...

I love it! And now I'm very hungry.

Marylinn Kelly said...

Your post/poem will be zooming to my music teacher/brother in Australia, who will be as charmed as I was. A SCBWI friend sent me the link, knowing I work to find footing in bloglandia, trusting something unforeseen will result.

Charles Ghigna (Father Goose) said...

Bravissimo! ...from your Italian/poet/friend!

ArborVitae 2.0 said...

What a fun poem!!!Especially for those of us with an Italian background.

Anonymous said...

How clever!!! Quintessential Greg. Always fun, always a delight.
-Monique Ruiz

Dana said...

My kids just insisted on doing an art project with pasta after reading your poem! I just hope they don't want to use meatballs and sauce.

David LaRochelle said...

Your poem lived up to the great humor that I always look forward to in your work, Greg. And I agree, the knotty/manicotti rhyme is especially clever. You can hold your own with any of the poets this month, and I look forward to someday standing in line to have you autograph your first poetry anthology.

Elizabeth O Dulemba said...

Yeah!!!! I LOVE it!! (And I'm suddenly craving pasta...)
:)
e

MotherReader said...

I thought of the Spaghetti Harvest film too! Only made the poem more fun. Now you'll need to write about the endangerd Tree Octopus.

Jennifer said...

Julia says - I liked it, it was fun and I want to buy the pasta farm. Her mom says - that would save us a lot in grocery bills.

Anonymous said...

Okay, you gave me the giggles and I woke up the dog. Mission accomplished, eh? :)


This is great, Greg

Rita said...

I love this poem!!!! Mac-and-cheese . . . lasagna plants . . .

It sounds like heaven.

Chris Barton said...

Well done, Greg -- and I'm thrilled to see you trying your hand at nonfiction...

Greg Pincus said...

Wow. Thank you all for the comments! I'm sorry to say I can't recreate the directions to the spaghetti farm... and sadly not to the pie farm, either. Pity, that.

And Sherrie - absolutely print the poem out to share!

Thanks again, y'all!

Dan Hanna said...

Everyone knows that spaghetti is sown
On industrial farms economically.
But have you not heard that the best pasta's grown
In factory vats hydroponically?

Though pies and fine pastry are grown in the dirt
All sweets don't spring from the mud.
Take jello, dear fellow, it's sucked from the marrow
Of creatures with syrup for blood.

And marshmallows whinny, heard in herds of quite many
In thunderous stampedes they roar.
They're caught and they're slaughtered, to s'mores they are martyred
Sold cheap on a shelf in a store.

April Halprin Wayland said...

As long as it's a Fair Trade Spaghetti farm, I'm there.

You crack me up, bro.

xxx,
april halprin wayland

Rogerdebris said...

I already tried to post this but, apprently it didn't go through. So here goes again: I'm down with the knotty/manicotti thing, but what I really love is "in the shade of the great ziti trees." It's truly pastoral, as well as gastronomically satisfying. Something Lewis Carrol-y about it too. As you know, I've been banned from pasta for another month so your poem was doubly good for me. I printed it out and ate it.

Unknown said...

Very cool that you are joining in.

Very descriptive (almost too descriptive in this before-breakfast reading of it).

david elzey said...

i love this for so many reasons. i see a picture book in this as well...

nice!