The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Challenges
    • Challenge Archives
  • Ebooks
  • Prizes
  • Book Shelf
    • Ekphrastic Book Shelf
    • Contributors' Book Shelf
    • TERcets Podcast
  • Workshops
  • Give
  • Submit
  • Contact
  • About/Masthead

I Love You More Than Popcorn, by John C. Mannone

9/5/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
My Popcorn, by Bob Salo (Canada). 2013. Courtesy of Greg Salo. Click image for artist portfolio.
I Love You More Than Popcorn

There’s a pearly translucence to the kernels of corn,
whose hulls hold a hardened starch, which catch the
glints of kitchen light. Shimmers in hot bacon grease
remain hidden when the lid of a cast iron kettle-pan
shuts tight. But the glint in your grandfather’s eyes
will linger there, for a while, in that prolonged light

of your memory. Pangs. From inside

the endosperm, superheated steam pings the popped
corn against the metal cover, it triggers your agitation
of the pan—a methodical turning of the handle
driving metal fins shaped like boat propeller blades
to scrape kernels off the bottom of the gas-fired pot
keeping them from scorching while lifting up
the foamed white puffs of starch. You anticipate
the taste, the crunch, and you carefully control these
explosions just like your grandfather taught you.

No wonder you love popcorn so much,
he was the only one who understood
your desperate hunger, your craving
for the kind words your mother never knew
how to speak to you when you were five,
and even now, often burnt and bitter.

You’d think that your mother’s popcorn pan,
fitted with a pressure relief valve, would make
great popcorn, but she shuffled the round-bottom
pot over electric burners too hard too long
and wore the metal thin. It was always low yield.

After you learned how in first grade, you wrote
a letter to your grandfather with large printed words
puffed-up, saying that if you took the bus to his house,
you hoped that he would pick you up and let you live
with him. He kept your letter in his wallet, together
with his smiles for years. Maybe it was his popcorn.

Only your grandfather’s popcorn, and maybe even
mine with a hint of sea salt and butter on my lips
pressed to yours, can satisfy. You said you love me
more than popcorn… I took your hand and kissed it,
then said the kindest words that I could think of,
Let’s go to the movies… And you understood.

John C. Mannone

John C. Mannone has work in
Artemis, Poetry South, Blue Fifth Review, New England Journal of Medicine, Peacock Journal, Gyroscope Review, Baltimore Review, Pedestal, Pirene's Fountain, and others. He’s a Jean Ritchie Fellowship winner in Appalachian literature (2017) and served as Celebrity judge for the National Federation of State Poetry Societies (2018). He has three poetry collections, including Flux Lines (Celtic Cat Publishing) forthcoming in 2018. He’s been nominated for Pushcart, Rhysling, and Best of the Net awards. He edits poetry for Abyss & Apex, Silver Blade, and Liquid Imagination. He’s a professor of physics near Knoxville, TN. http://jcmannone.wordpress.com
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    The Ekphrastic Review
    Picture
    Current Prompt
    COOKIES/PRIVACY
    This site uses cookies to deliver your best navigation experience this time and next. Continuing here means you consent to cookies. Thank you.
    Join us on Facebook:
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture



    ​
    ​Archives
    ​

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015

    Lorette C. Luzajic theekphrasticreview@gmail.com 

  • The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Challenges
    • Challenge Archives
  • Ebooks
  • Prizes
  • Book Shelf
    • Ekphrastic Book Shelf
    • Contributors' Book Shelf
    • TERcets Podcast
  • Workshops
  • Give
  • Submit
  • Contact
  • About/Masthead