Verseday: Chocolate by Rita Dove

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chocolate love

I came across a news item today that made my mouth water. In what it described as a ‘dream job’ the article described how Cadbury is looking for a chocolate and cocoa taster. But would I love chocolate if it became a job to taste it? I don’t know. Anyway, chocolate set the theme for this week’s Verseday (a little late!).

I found the poem “Chocolate” by Rita Dove, which I instantly liked. Dove is only the second African-American to win the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1987 and also the first US Poet Laureate. Currently, she is a professor at the University of Virginia. Enjoy reading (and eating!) “Chocolate” from her poetry collection named American Smooth!

Chocolate

Velvet fruit, exquisite square 
I hold up to sniff 
between finger and thumb – 
how you numb me 
with your rich attentions! 
If I don’t eat you quickly, 
you’ll melt in my palm. 
Pleasure seeker, if i let you 
you’d liquefy everywhere. 
Knotted smoke, dark punch 
of earth and night and leaf, 
for a taste of you 
any woman would gladly 
crumble to ruin. 
Enough chatter: I am ready 
to fall in love!

 

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