I Brake For Lima Beans

Funny how the things we used to hate
Have now become our favorites.
As I child I despised most vegetables.
Green beans?! Get them off my plate!
Brussels sprouts?! Give them to the dog.
I snubbed jars of baby food carrots.
Mother had to devise new ways of
trickery and deceit for this eater!

Nowadays, I'll happily sit.
With my container of broccoli, cauliflower, carrots
and dip.
Green beans, lima beans, and other assorted childhood nasties.
Are buried under Newman's Own.
Or Hillshire, whichever's on sale.
As I grudgingly admit that I've never felt better.
Amazing what some nutrients will do.

And now, I feed a little one in our (extended) family
Whenever we go to visit.
She's quite the opposite.
There are no spit-outs, scrape the chin, and try again.
No airplane rides to get her attention.
She lunges for that spoon, and devours anything that's in it.
And I laugh, because if mom were to see.
She'd wish I was as easy as she....

— infinite_dwarf, Sep 29, 2008

About This Poem

About the Author

Region, Country: North Carolina, USA, USA

Favorite Poets: E.A. Poe, Lewis Carroll, Charles Bukowski, Michael McClure, Lawrence Ferlenghetti.

Critiques

Barbara Writes

17 years 8 months ago

nice write

Smiles:) Barbara My mom was a master at getting us to eat vegetable she mix squash with eggs, mix deer meat with stew beef, etc we ate. now i eat all except squash. out of four kids 2 girls 2 boys the youngest a boy 16 ate vegetable including fried okra as a toddler. shock the whole family, still do, now the other three has caught up and eat veg now like this

Kailashana

17 years 8 months ago

Hey kid… you had me at *I

Hey kid... you had me at *I Brake for Lima Beans*. Best wishes for smooth sailing... and lots of hugs... Hurry back now, you hear? Love. ~A

t. reflexion

17 years 8 months ago

This is...

This is one good write that reminds me of my experience when I joined my friends to say that I would not eat cassava fofo because of the smell, but was forced to eat by my father because he considered my excuse not good enough. Today, I eat almost everything that is there to eat. I have also learnt not to say 'never', because with the turn of years you find that you are doing the things you once thought would never happen. So I take a philosophical approach to life. I don't know, you leave line 11 very short and line 12 very long, could you explain? I see eight lines in a stanza of three, beginning with things the poet rejected, the middle shows a significant change and the end moves from internal growth to extended family, thus making the poet an 'apostle of vegetable meals'. well done. You know, If your mom sees you feed vegetable to your niece, she will understand. Best wishes. T.

IKnowNoBox

17 years 8 months ago

Now if only that worked with studying!

A spirited write. In ink, Dabbler

Linda Moses

17 years 8 months ago

Jess

Enjoyable read. According to my mother, I always liked veggies. Turned my nose up to milk as soon as I could, and always refused butter. pretty much the same way now.

Rett

17 years 8 months ago

Great write Jess.

I loved it. BTW, that reminded me, did you ever try the recipe I gave you on potatoes? Respectfully, Rett: "The only thing observable with the naked eye to exceed the speed of light is rumor" Unknown

prayersbyPatty

17 years 8 months ago

Nice write Jess

brought back memories for me thanks for sharing Patty

poewriter58

17 years 8 months ago

Jessica Lynn

I just saw this and I love that title. Oh did you ever bring back some memories love ya anyway Mom

infinite_dwarf

17 years 8 months ago

LMAO

Thanks all! Barbara - vension?! I highly understand your not wanting to eat it - though mine would be for moral reasons. Anna - Things are chuggin' right along, and time has been freed up some. T. - Yea, I do that quite often... Sometimes the unbalanced lines work for the piece, sometimes they don't. Hopefully this one worked. David - Too right! I didn't kick school in the ass until my junior year! Thanks for the read. Linda - See, and I was the exact opposite, I used to drink milk like it was going out of style! I've cut back majorly, as calcium deposits are not something I feel like going through. :~O Rett - Not yet, but I did do the pinto bean one. Excellent!!! You da man! Patty - Good ones, I hope? Thanks for the read. Mom - "love ya anyway" hehehehehehe, I know, I was a pain. I was trying to think of a captivating title - guess it worked. ~Jess K. ---------------------------------------------------- "If you've ever emptied the back of your pickup truck by driving backward really fast and slamming on the brakes, you might be a redneck" - Jeff Foxworthy Bill Engvall: "that's how we moved"