As a grand finale to poetry shared between poets at the dVerse Poets’ Pub, Grace writes from wintry Canada with a verbalous invitation to craft a rhyming recipe (or ‘receipt’) of our own .

Grace cites historic and recent poets who’ve used this form. Thank you Grace for leaving your own seasonal poem here!

I have played fast and loose with the idea, gathering together not so much the ingredients for a dish, but a few random sensory samples of the foods that I have enjoyed in Decembers over the decades. 

And I’ve included a few pictures too, of Quince Picking way back in September, in the gardens of two different Cambridgeshire friends, and the process of quince conversion to membrillo, eaten with Spanish cheese…

Say cheese… and both Brie and Red Cheshire are in my memory bank, along with the membrillo’s friend Manchengo, and a delicious cheese called Bruder Basil which I encountered once at a party and then have rarely seen again.

I’m getting distracted by cheese thoughts, so I’ll share my taste-y poem now, and also a link here to a recipe for Kate Davies’ Festive Oaties, which I’ve tried (both as cook and as sampler), and find delicious.

Enjoy, and a happy and nourishing festive season to you!

Rhyming receipt

These tastes must I beckon
To honour the feast:
Of bread and of stollen
A portion at least.
(Oh, sugarplum frosting:
A-heaped make-beliefs...)

My Scarborough biscuits:
Sage, rosemary, thyme,
And parsley, with any
Available rhyme.

And Brie that is flowing
From cheese-board to cloth,
And blue veined Red Cheshire.
And chicken-bone broth.

And sprouts, carrots, parsnips
All locally sought;
Potatoes mashed, roasted -
By barter, not bought.

Of nutmeg and marzipan:
Hints and entices;
Of quince, a membrillo;
Mulled potions with spices.

And clementines stacked up,
Displaying their leaves,
While icicled sugar-mice
Sleep in the eaves -
(Oh, sugarplum frosting:
A-heaped make-believes...)

© Kathy Labrum McVittie 14 December 2023