Michael Diehl, Ancients
Lox
Like
Greek gods
we slice and
toast bagels, spread
cream cheese all over.
Our ambrosia is
smoked salmon slices, nova.
This Zeus of Foods’ tangy fish taste
brings back Brooklyn; delis, candy stores,
schoolyards, when anything was possible.
_______________
Peter M. Gordon
Review by Sherry Mossafer Rind
This poem made me smile the moment I saw the title. Who knew lox could merit a poem, let alone being compared to ambrosia of the gods? But of course, I thought, that’s it exactly to the dedicated lox lover. Amusement turns to fondness with the final two lines where the poem moves to memory and widens. It suggests time and place, the whole feeling of being young and looking forward.
Review by Jared Pearce
For me that last line and idea, “when anything was possible,” blows the poem open and demonstrates not just how poems can work, but also how food can work, and how we’re probably eating mostly to get that feeling back.
Review by Dale Champlin
On our flight back from NYC two weeks ago, this is the poem I would have tucked into my carryon suitcase—an everything bagel spread thick with cream cheese, a pinch of optimism and two slices of lox.