A Cheese & Pickle Sandwich for Lunch

Posted on 2022/04/15 by Bartholomew Barker

Another two prompt combo:

For today’s prompt, write a patience poem.

What’s your favorite cheese?

A Cheese & Pickle Sandwich for Lunch

It requires precision
to get cheese to melt
properly in a microwave

I’m like Goldilocks
without the blond curls
I want my cheese
to be warm soft yet resilient

If it’s still cold in the middle
I cry all afternoon
if it’s hot thin and runny
my anger flares

Different varieties
demand different times
Swiss and Smoked Gouda
can stand the longest
like a grizzled old man
in a sauna

Pepper Jack and Provolone
are most forgiving
like a happy drunk
at a summer wedding

Havarti and Muenster
must be intently monitored
like a hot afternoon parking lot
with a curious toddler

I should brush the dust
off this panini maker
plug it in — let it warm up
get the sub-second control
that I desire

But it’s lunch time
and I just don’t have the patience

About Bartholomew Barker

Bartholomew Barker is one of the organizers of Living Poetry, a collection of poets and poetry lovers in the Triangle region of North Carolina. His first poetry collection, Wednesday Night Regular, written in and about strip clubs, was published in 2013. His second, Milkshakes and Chilidogs, a chapbook of food inspired poetry was served in 2017. He was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2021. Born and raised in Ohio, studied in Chicago, he worked in Connecticut for nearly twenty years before moving to Hillsborough where he makes money as a computer programmer to fund his poetry habit.
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17 Responses to A Cheese & Pickle Sandwich for Lunch

  1. (Gypsie) Ami Offenbacher-Ferris says:
    2022/04/15 at 21:54

    Pre-made frozen… either microwaveable or toaster oven … works wonders! 😉 (Love the descriptive quality of your cheeses – palate perfection!)

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  2. JeanMarie says:
    2022/04/16 at 00:05

    Nice dissertation on cheese. I’ll be right over. 😀

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  3. carolyncordon says:
    2022/04/16 at 00:31

    I loved this challenge, and have written my own poem, that I’m currently savoring, and hoping to put on my poetry submissions platter.some time soon!

    So thank you for that, and I loved your poem too, by the way!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  4. yourplateormine967244485 says:
    2022/04/16 at 01:05

    I feel you on this one too! Love a grilled cheese sandwich done right! For me the bread is key, has to keep its shape, so pressing down on the flip side, that takes patience too! 😁

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  5. Tut Yashar says:
    2022/04/16 at 10:02

    I love this!!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  6. Kim of Glover Gardens says:
    2022/07/31 at 10:22

    I love this? Is it Branson pickle (asks the ignorant American)? I only know that from the ploughman’s lunches I’ve had when traveling for work in the UK and hadn’t considered it for a grilled cheese. Great idea! Regarding poems about cheese, I wrote one as a small child:

    I like cheese.
    Do you like cheese?

    Well, I like cheese,
    So give me some, please.

    😊

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

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