On Sage by Dennis Etzel Jr.
by Traci Brimhall
Hi, I’m Traci Brimhall, Poet Laureate of Kansas and here today to talk about the book Eat Your Words: A Kansas Poetry Cookbook. It’s a collection of recipes and poems I helped edit that collected 20 recipes from 20 chefs across the great state of Kansas, from urban centers to small towns, from restaurants to farms to food trucks. All these great chefs offered up delicious recipes that can be small snacks, hearty meals or treats for your sweet tooth.
I asked 20 poets to take inspiration from the food they were paired with and to create something inspired by the meal itself or one of the ingredients. They showed me how much emotional range can be found in bierocks, how much joy can be found in the mess of baking, and how we can connect to both ourselves and our communities with each meal.
Today, I’d love to share with you the poem “Sage” by Dennis Etzel Jr. The recipe he had was for Sweet Potato and Sage Gnocchi and Marsala Cream Sauce, which came from Adrienne Lynn, executive chef of the Renaissance Cafe in Assaria KS. She says the dish stands on its own but also works well with earthy meats like lamb, duck, and pheasant. She also says that the second time you make it, cooking will go faster because it takes a couple of tries to get good at gnocchi. You can read more about the recipe in the cookbook, but now here is Dennis Etzel Jr.’s “Sage.”
The poem begins with an epigraph, which is a quote that appears just under the title of the poem. Dennis looked up the roots of the word sage. When I think sage, I think of the herb or as another word for wise. But it’s roots according to the epigraph go back to 13th century French and is connected to the world healthy or whole.
Here is the poem.
This taste of my mother’s worry that
her Thanksgiving stuffing was too savory
when we loved sinking into
the moist breading. In the cupboard
she saved for the holidays
vials of dried blessings while
I still learn from my Master Gardener
spouse the difference between basil’s
sharpness and the comfort of thyme.
I’m a believer from the monastery
of my spouse’s preaching for whole
foods, how bitter notes complement
joy as I pick each leaf’s sacrifice
which survived, like me, November nights.
I love that that poem takes a flavor as an invitation to reflect and connect different moments in life. Smell is the sense most connected with memory, and food offers both smell and taste as sensory doors to the past. We learn about old holiday rituals and can imagine Etzel’s mother’s turkey stuffing, and then hear how herb gardens shape what he eats and thinks today. Scent and flavor can make time travelers of all of us, and I love how Etzel also mentions the bitter note with the joy. Salt also brings out so many flavors of food so they shine, and why not a few tears, also, to make the most of brightest moments?
The poet Dennis Etzel Jr. is a fifth-generation Topekan who lives with his spouse and five boys. Dennis teaches creative writing, film, mythology, and other classes at Washburn University while leading poetry workshops throughout Kansas.
Thank you for being with us to talk for a moment about Eat Your Words: A Kansas Poetry Cookbook. You can find more excerpts from some of the cookbook poems at this year’s State Fair in Hutchinson or find the book online at Meadowlark Books or at this year’s Kansas Book Festival on September 20th in Topeka. I’m Traci Brimhall, Poet Laureate of Kansas, coming to you from Manhattan, Kansas, the “Little Apple.”
Traci Brimhall is the current Poet Laureate of Kansas. She's an avid reader of many genres, but her latest obsession has been reading retellings of Greek myths by authors like Natalie Haynes and Jennifer Saint. Those books help her talk to her 10-year-old son about myths, monsters, and demigods while he reads Percy Jackson. She's a professor of creative writing at Kansas State University and lives in Manhattan, KS.
https://tracibrimhallpoet.com/ . This book can be ordered at https://www.meadowlarkbookstore.com/
