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!
