It is chicken butchered
broth simmering with dumplings
in fried garlic & coriander leaves
Vegetables swim with leeks
and parsley, each ladle a hot
liquid on tongue, each sip
a flavor of long afternoon's sun
A chicken soup to comfort my aches
A chicken soup to celebrate my joys
My native motherland's soup
brims my stomach of fullness
incomparable
Last night, I boil fresh chicken soup
warming the kitchen of familiar scents
as bitter winter of January blows & blows
Posted for D'verse Poets Pub - Poetics - Scents that Linger by Kelly ~ Happy New Year !!!!
Picture credit: here ~ Here in Canada, we are feeling the winter chill at -15 C yesterday & -11 C today~
I do understand how such smells can bring you back.. I have had chicken soup in Asia, and it's something so different from the thin broth we get here... So good you can make the scents come alive again...
ReplyDeleteYes, there is something so memorable about those soups of childhood, I think. My mother used to make chicken soup too! Also corn chowder with ham. Your poem is a warm embrace in this cold month.
ReplyDeleteA warm embrace it is. I agree completely. Chicken soup is big in my country. I do not happen to like it, but it does bring me memories of my childhood.
DeleteBrims my stomach of fullness... love that line and the way it spills the whole poem into new territory. Chicken soup is always such a balm to the soul, yes? Hope it warms you up!
ReplyDeleteComfort food at its best! Flavoursome and hearty scent of a poem.
ReplyDeleteBrims my heart with fullness, this poem does. My mother, father, and grandmother all made chicken soup differently and they all smelled differently. I could close my eyes and without looking, tell who had made the soup in the bowl. And now I make my version, more Asian than Southern but I still smell those soups and how they brought comfort and warmth. This poem makes my heart warm with your memories.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, the mother's soups simmering all day would welcome us at the door, chili, clam chowder, tomato, & french onion; nothing like cooking smells to transport us backward. One never forgets the smell of fried liver & fish in apartment house hallways. I like your lines /each sip/a flavor of long afternoon's sun/.
ReplyDeleteMmm. Home-made chicken soup is one of the best scents in the world. I can't even think of that scent without thinking of my mom in the kitchen :-)
ReplyDeleteYour poem is as warming as my mother's soup was
ReplyDeleteA comforting and delicious repast!
ReplyDeleteSoups in the cooler winter months are just so good ...
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan
Ahhhh, my, I could not only smell it, I could taste it too...fab poem
ReplyDeleteThat line about garlic and coriander leaves is wonderful... it makes me both smell and taste it!
ReplyDeleteGood way to thwart the cold. So far that cold here hasn't lingered too much. You can keep it lol
ReplyDeleteoh, wondrous, yummy chicken soup!
ReplyDeleteAh yes, chicken soup can be a comfort at times :D
ReplyDeleteBeautifully penned.
Lots of love,
Sanaa
Happy New Year dear Grace all the best for you!!
ReplyDeleteI love chicken soup :) :)
Love this! Is is pure comfort!
ReplyDeleteA lovely memory, Grace. I know very well that comforting smell (and taste) of chicken soup. My mother made chicken and rice and chicken soup with dumplings, both superb as I'm sure is yours.
ReplyDeleteSimply delicious, Grace.
ReplyDeletei salivate at the mention of the vegetables and garlic and see the spice seeds from the pic which makes my salivary glands become heightened. i'm a visual eater also.
ReplyDeletegracias for sharing your meal
Yummy! and everyone has their own version.
ReplyDeleteGreat job on the prompt, Grace..a scent we all can identify with. Whenever walking down the street and smelling all the different aromas from restaurants, it's harder to tell which is which; it all smells so good. Chicken soup is for the soul, of course.
ReplyDeletea beautifully aromatic poem with nostalgia....
ReplyDeleteLipton
ReplyDeletepackages
family
brew..
scents
clear
air ways
of what to
do when wife
and i are sick
but get
Love
out
of packages
oh! when she
can't cook..:)
tasty poem
ReplyDeletegood luck
http://imagtalks.blogspot.com/
Warm ...and the scent that is connected with motherland is always sweet!
ReplyDeleteYou made those chicken soups heal us in the reading again.
ReplyDeleteChicken soup is a comfort soup...I could use a big bowl today!
ReplyDeleteWhy do people fan their kitchens free of cooking smells? Your chicken soup or the beef stew which is simmering here - the scents are sometimes even better than the meal!
ReplyDeletebeing under the weather, this made me salivate. just lovely, Grace. And happy new year ~
ReplyDeleteIt only took your beautiful description to fill my tummy with warm chicken soup! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThis beautiful poem resonates so much with me right now. I actually have a huge pot of broth simmering on the stove this very moment - the smell is filling our house and I cannot wait to try it later :)
ReplyDeleteHot soup is the best on a chilly winter day :)
Have an amazing Sunday, Grace.
Lots of hugs to you,
Beate