OP: John Keats's Porridge

University of Iowa Press, Iowa City, 1975. Paperback. Very Good.

There are undoubtedly many theories about the bond between food and poetry, but there is no denying that poets write about food, food evokes poetry, and we revel in both.

A particularly happy convergence took place when young poet Victoria McCabe succeeded in inducing 115 American poets to provide recipes of theirs to a most remarkable collection. Among those responding: Jim Harrison, Allen Ginsburg, Joyce Carol Oates, Marge Piercy, Muriel Rukeyser, and W.D. Snodgrass. 

The contributors, of course, live up to their way with words. Donald Hall’s turkey salad amaryllis, if made with commercial salad dressing, “becomes poisonous and leads to instant death.” Robert Penn Warren’s recipe has only four components—2 oz. Jack Daniel's Black Label, 4oz. non-chlorinated water, 2 cubes of ice, and a half hour in which to meditate on the goodness of God. 

Published—only in paperback—by the University of Iowa Press in 1975. This copy is in Very Good condition, lightly shelfworn.