Butter

“The Dirt-Eaters” by Elizabeth Alexander (2001)

This poem, from Alexander’s collection Antebellum Dream Book, considers geophagy, or the eating of clay, dirt, chalk, etc., in relation to a news headline from the New York Times. Fragmented and composed in a long column of short lines that plunge down the page, the poem incorporates multiple voices to underscore a contrast between cultural practice and the way those practices are perceived by institutions outside the culture.

“Cough Medicine” by Elizabeth Alexander (1992)

In this poem, Alexander compares a child’s use of cough medication to what she has read from books as heroin and opium addiction. Like “Butter,” this poem reflects on childhood memories and contains serious messages between the lines.

“Persimmons” by Li-Young Lee (1986)

The speaker of this poem starts with a memory of being slapped in school for confusing two words that sound similar. In the course of the poem, the reader understands that the speaker is Chinese, who as a child was disciplined for his perceived mistakes in learning to speak English. The poem travels through memories of a lover, as well as of the speaker’s mother and father, considering the effects of language throughout.

“original [sin]” by Alison C. Rollins (2016)

Rollins’ poem highlights generational difference, as well as ideas about gratitude, identity, and self-possession.

“Onions” by William Matthews (1992)

Like “Butter,” Matthew’s poem uses a single culinary staple to illustrate the deep effect of food on lived experience. As in “Butter,” the onion comes to live inside the body, emitting a “domestic perfume” (Line 33) akin to the light pouring out from within the well-buttered body in Alexander’s poem.