An Elegy to Food, by Orlando

I pity you, tiny morsel;
Indeed, you live a life of strife.
You trivial piece of cheese
You innocent crumb of bread
You harmless chicken’s egg.

I pity you, tiny morsel, for you lead
A lonely life, with none a friend
Because once the leviathan sees you
It’s goodbye, adios, the end!
Cheese, I’m sure the others have told you
Cheddar, Monterey Jack, your beloved spouse, Macaroni
That the human nose can detect eight hundred smells
Of which includes the odour, cheesy.

And you, Tiny Crumb, hasn’t Mama Loaf told the tale?
Of the human mouth, said to contain
Rows and rows of teeth sharper than the corners of a Graham cracker
And molten saliva
Hotter than a Caffe Mocha at room temperature

And, alas, my beautiful chicken’s egg
I mourn for you the most
Even you, in all your curvilinear glory and immaculate whiteness
Cannot be revived
For the only thing the human mind computes upon seeing you is
Boiled, scrambled, or fried?

Oh, how I pity you, tiny morsel
But I beckon you, do not lose faith
There is always hope you see –
A promise land, a life with at least average dignity
Once you have traversed the human esophagus
Become compressed by peristalsis
Thrown around in the stomach
Showered down with acid
Completed the six meter intestinal route
And endured tickling under the forearms by pancreatic enzymes
Until you reach the end line and become rectum-ified
There, you will be greeted by the Angel, Anus
A most charming fellow

And then, I promise you, tiny morsel
Everything will be okay
For your Heaven is only
A gentle flush away


Explication:

This poem is about food! Everyone loves food, but as a teenager myself and a witness to the tremendous appetites of some of my peers, its safe to conclude that food is a frequently reoccurring thought in the teenage mind. This fits perfectly with my theme, the theme of growing up and going through different stages in life.

This poem is, in essence, a mock elegy (in my own words, a play on an elegy with characteristics of a mock epic). Several poetic devices are used throughout the poem. There is no set rhyme scheme, but I used rhyming throughout the poem to add to the playful humor and tone. I also used similes, imagery, and inflated, bombastic language to add to the effect of a mock epic. An example of this would be, "Of the human mouth, said to contain rows and rows of teeth sharper than the corners of a Graham cracker and molten saliva hotter than a Caffe Mocha at room temperature".

I also alluded to the idea of Heaven from the Bible near the end of the poem, where the food has met the Angel Anus and flushed to its "heaven".