Jaime Adoff - Soul Food

Soul Food
by
Jaime Adoff

I wake up early and throw on warm clothes.
Breakfast bars and juice
hot coffee for momma
to go:
We drive slow because of snow and ice.
Slipping and sliding
but
then
we arrive:
I see
a long line of faces
from all different places
waiting for some hope to unload. . .
Food for souls. . .
Groceries—two bags each.
One blue, one green.
Meat stacked in a frozen black tub.
Filling bellies full of God's love.
Walking to cars with folks
we don't know but know us.
We load them up and pray;
for grace and peace
for healing and heat, for houses that are cold.
Some are young some are old.
Grandmas and grandpas,
moms and dads and
kids
just like me.

Time goes fast—with tears and laughs.
Holding cold hands and stomping cold feet.
Hugs between two pounds of meat.
Soul food

so much more than what you eat . . . .

© 2011 Jaime Adoff. All rights reserved.

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Jaime Adoff says that Soul Food was inspired by his work with The Hope Foundation of Greater Dayton (also findable on Facebook), work which he calls "life-changing." This is yet another thing I love about poets like Jaime - they can take something personal and make it universal, powerful, and moving. It's a gift, and we get to be the lucky recipients when they share it.

Just to give you a sense of Jaime's range, when we last saw him here, we got to play with Rock n Roll Dad. Since then, Jaime's novel, The Death of Jayson Porter won the 2010 Teen Buckeye Book Award. Then he goes and writes Soul Food which shows another whole side. Plus, ya know, he's a musician, too. I can't wait to see him dazzle in person... but for now, I'm just excited to have him here as part of 30 Poets/30 Days.

Yesterday, Tracie Vaughn Zimmer gave us Fantasy. Tomorrow... Art Space by Susan Marie Swanson! For more information on 30 Poets/30 Days and how to follow along, please click here.