When I started this blog, I had a  very clear intention of the post structure: recipes inspired by poetry. A  literal interpretation of poetry on a plate. And I love it, I do, but  the reality of poetry is that it's not always about food. (Shocking!) It's a passage here or there that inspires you on a tough day. It's an  American Life in Poetry series delivered to your inbox at 7 am when  you've just wiped the sleep from your eyes. It's a quote or an image or a  turn of phrase that stays with you for a while. It's reading a favorite poem on your birthday, while eating cake. So while the usual Eat This Poem posts will remain (and I already have a couple lined up), I plan to be intentional about leaving room to, on occasion, discuss poetry in the context of the everyday.

You can certainly eat poetry, that much has been proven, but my hope  today is to explore the space where poetry casually intersects with  life, because that's how I read poetry now. It's not an assignment, a  paper to be written, a passage to memorize. It's not even a poet to  emulate. It's for the pure wonder of it, snuck in on my lunch break or  just before bed. It's not very glamorous most of the time. I'm not  idling away in cafes huddling by the fireplace turning pages of the  latest collected works of my favorite poet. Who has time for that? It's  page by page, one line at a time.