TWO WAFFLE POEMS

 

AFTER WORSHIP WAFFLES

    [When Karen’s January 2d birthday

    falls on Monday, at 78.]

That’s my idea

I’d like waffles for breakfast

Just say buttermilk

I’ll make you Sunday waffles

And one extra for Monday

Jim

2 January 2023

*

THIS IS THE WAFFLE THAT DIDN’T MAKE IT

TO THE BREAKFAST TABLE AND

INTO KAREN’S BIRTHDAY POEM

You might think of a waffle

as a grid-patterned pancake-like food

tasty with syrup. But the word

is also a verb that means

to avoid making a decision.

Waffling seems to have its origins

in the 1690s as the word waff,

to yelp, possibly in imitation

of the yelping of dogs. However,

in 1725, in England, borrowing

from the Dutch, take flour, cream,

wafel, wafer, web, weave.

A pancake with syrup traps.

And in the American grain

waffles go random rogue

Oh, Dr. Williams! Like when

you moon someone through

a chain link fence: Dude, let’s

go over to the overpass

and waffle the fuckin’

nine to fiver’s.

Jim Bodeen

2 January 2023