POEM #28- Chocolate

Hershey's Chocolate, by Spaspoo, from Wikimedia Commons

I've celebrated National Poetry Month by traipsing all over "Our Wonderful World" with Mary Lee Hahn and Kevin Hodgson. We've written about wonders ancient and modern, natural and human-made, and now are spending the last few days on the smaller stuff, the wonders we find in our everyday lives.

Today's wonder is supposed to be chocolate cake. I like chocolate cake,  but it's actually only a small component of what I see as one of the four essential food groups (chocolate, hamburgers, Diet Coke, and everything else you are supposed to eat).  I'm just as happy with a 79 cent bag of m and m's as with a fancy chocolate cake, so I've expanded the category beyond chocolate cake to chocolate.


 "I Like My Chocolate Simple"

Chocolate?
I'm a little particular.
I like my chocolate simple.
None of those
dipped truffles
purchased individually
from a white coated choclatier
who uses sterling silver tongs 
to lift individually wrapped pieces
from doily covered plates
inside a glass counter

instead give me a Hershey bar
an afterthought slipped into the shopping cart
as a reward for dealing
with a crowded grocery store
or a 79 cent bag of m and m's
(ok sometimes the $1.29 cent bag
supposed to be shared bag)
bought at 7-11
when I pump gas

Dark chocolate?
I hate it.
Give me milk chocolate
or give me death
ok well maybe not death
but definitely not dark chocolate.

Chocolate with nuts?
I love nuts
consumed in handfuls
greased and salty from the jar
or purchased from a vendor
at a baseball game
and I love a good homemade
peanut butter and jelly sandwich
or a hunk of homemade
peanut brittle at Christmas time.
But  nuts in chocolate?
OK, maybe an occasional Almond Joy
but Peanut m and m's.
Never. Nope.

Chocolate ice cream?
Nope. Hate that blandish pseudo chocolate flavor.
Just give me a bowl of vanilla
with hot fudge or Hershey's chocolate syrup.
And I hate tootsie rolls
Another form of pseudo chocolate.
But I do like an occasional tootsie pop.
Red or orange are my favorites.
Once in a while grape.
But never the chocolate ones.
  
Chocolate cookies?
Definitely yes to chocolate chip.
But cookies that are pure chocolate?
Ummm, not so much.
Oreos?
Will eat them.
Don't love them.
And given the choice
I'd rather have the middle part
and give the chocolate cookie to the dog
yes, I know dogs aren't supposed to eat chocolate
but once in a while
it doesn't seem to hurt her.

OK, well what about brownies?
Brownies are pure chocolate.
Yeah, brownies are good.
I like 'em best without frosting
And a little undercooked and gooey.
Please don't overcook them
until they are dry and crumbly.
And I'd really rather have the ones from the middle of the pan
And again, you can leave out the nuts.

Chocolate?
I'm a little particular.
I like my chocolate simple.

Carol Wilcox, (c) 2014