It all began with a poetry submission in 2010 by Jessy Randall that Kerri went nuts–or cookies–for:
O Oreo
You taste best
a little soggy.
Inspired by the poem, Kerri and Colleen and Shannon hatched a plan for a Halloween-themed Candy-Cookie Poem Drive–a collection of 3-lined poems written by YARN readers about their favorite candy or cookie, posted to the YARN Facebook page.
Last year in 2011, we kicked it up a notch and made it a Contest won by Annie Donworth Chikamatsu.
Image courtesy of TowerGirl (flickr.com)
This year, inspired by three yummy poems about apples, we’re expanding the “sweets” idea to include any treat you might enjoy in the fall–candy and cookies, of course, but also apples, pumpkins, cider donuts, and oh, we could go on. The “treat” just has to be edible and particularly delicious from September to November.
It’s still a CONTEST with the prize of a $25 Gift Certificate to the Local, Preferably Independent Bookstore of Your Choice. Maybe you’ll select something from our BFSRE?
This is how it works:
- Starting Monday, October 15
- post a 3-line poem about your favorite fall treat to the Comments section of this very page, and make sure we can see an email address as part of your post.
- Continue posting poems as long as you like through the fall, but if you want to enter the Contest portion of the Drive, you must submit by Sunday, October 28 @ 5pm.
- Winner of the Contest will be announced on Halloween!
Have fun! Can’t wait to eat–ahem, read–your poems!
“Mirror, Mirror”
E says pumpkin, and I think latte.
She says cider, and I think donut.
Who looks better in her apple-colored cords?
An apple pie is
A perfect marriage of sweet and spice,
A nostalgic expression of everything nice.
Leaves the shades of apple skins
melt into the earth, emit
the smell of gold and dirt and pine.
“Candy Corn Haiku”
Orange and white – black too
Your grainy sugar so good
Bite and eyes roll back
Salutations to Autumn!
Juice an apple in a cup,
Add some cinnamon and drink it up!
Treat–or Trick? (a haiku)
Small box of raisins
In my Halloween pumpkin:
Sadistic neighbor.
Orange wrapper pealed back to reveal
peanut butter embraced by chocolate,
the ambrosia of American life.
Candy Corn
We pluck it from plastic bins, each caramelized kernel
a sugary seed we plant, praying those lush, summer
stalks will spring up, just for a moment, inside us.
Dear caramel crunch,
thanks a bunch,
You really make the sweetest lunch.
driving home the longest way possible
through the city park; dazzled by the trees
stolen fire from the sun
You and I can avoid Autumn by our summer love
we laugh, intertwined, pumpkin pie in our mouths
crust crumbling too quick – like the harsh October dusk.
Note: my above poem is entitled, “As Easy As Pie”.
“Fall Request”
pumpkin flavored coffee cannot exist,
unless there are
candy corn flavored cupcakes.
“Semper Fi”
There is nothing sweeter
Than when you and I
Bake a delicious apple pie
What I love most,
Chocolate and peanut butter,
Is never having to decide.
Crisp apple gush of
sweet juice and love
for days long past
Another Kind of Gift
In late fall the bruise-colored sky
bellies down almost to your eyes.
The winds like horns blow change.
Bakes apple treats–the taste of family
gathered on occasion, to meet, greet,
and sample sweet slices of life.
I have eaten the Halloween candy that was in the refrigerator
and which you were probably saving for trick or treaters.
Forgive me, the Snickers were so sweet and cold.
Pumpkin pie, pumpkin pie,
I would certainly die,
For a piece of pumpkin pie
^^ “Pumkin Pie” ^^
“Zombie”
No pumpkin, candy, apple treat
Tastes as sickeningly sweet
As the brain’s delicious meat
“Carmel Apple Spice”
Drinking apple pie
washes away the wet chill
of long Autumn nights.
MAPLE SYRUP
Maple lava on hotcakes,
now surrounding my eggs.
Pour some on me, my bacon begs.