Wednesday, April 7, 2010

To Be Hungry Is To Be Great













Well, some 25 years after first encountering this William Carlos Williams poem...

To Be Hungry Is To Be Great

The small, yellow grass-onion,
spring’s first green, precursor
to Manhattan’s pavements, when
plucked as it comes, in bunches,
washed, split and fried in
a pan, though inclined to be
a little slimy, if well cooked
and served hot on rye bread
is to beer a perfect appetizer–
and the best part
of it is they grow everywhere.


...I made myself a grass-onion sandwich. Looking fat and ready in the ground, plucked just before cooking, slightly caramelized in olive oil, and slathered on toasted homemade bread, these easy pickin' weeds made the perfect midday meal on a summery spring day. It will surely encourage me to be more diligent in my weeding.