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Kitchen Poems

Cooking Poetry To Brighten Your Day

Kitchen poems help to brighten the day. While looking through my mother's old recipe scrapbooks and handwritten recipe books, I was struck by all the little newspaper clippings of poems that she had placed between the pages of her dessert recipes many years ago.

For example, this little clipping was given to her from my Grandma Bell:

He's Scotch As He Can Be poem clipping

Mom always believed in combining pleasure with her work, and by sandwiching poetry between the pages of her recipes, she had only to turn a page or two to find some helpful thought or word of encouragement or a smile for the day.

Her favorite cooking poetry was always present whenever the days got too stressful or busy, and she needed a boost. Mom proved that poetry and cooking can work together to lift one's spirit.

Mom's Favorite Kitchen Poems

This little poem must have given her strength when days were difficult and things didn't turn out as expected.

Gordon's Creed
Question not, but live and labor,
Till your goal be won;
Helping every feeble neighbor,
Seeking help from none.

Life is mostly froth and bubble:
Two things stand like stone --
Kindness in another's trouble,
Courage in your own.

--Adam Lindsay Gordon (1833-1870)

And every cook who has ever borrowed a recipe can smile at this.

May Your Dreams Come True
She found it in that corner--
The recipe, so rare.
She made it to perfection,
And asked us out to share.

We had chicken, rolls and salad
And things we couldn't make.
But oh! the most delectable
Was Annie's fresh Dream Cake.

Now we're going out to Annie's,
Just when the day is fair;
For when we tried to make that cake
The Dream was one nightmare.

--Anonymous.

This little poem likely reminded Mom of her own wooden baking cabinet. The white metal shelf that pulled out for rolling dough on had blue squares in a sort of checkerboard pattern that I improvised to play games on as a youngster.

A Kitchen Cabinet
I have a kitchen cabinet,
Painted green like grass that's wet,
And when I want a flower vase
I use the sugar jar of glaze,
And marking squares off, more or less,
I use the baking board for chess!

--Margaret Clarke Russell, author of "Housework Poems," 1923

And a little reminder that time is precious.

The Kitchen Clock
I am the Kitchen Clock.
A friend, not a slavedriver to be feared.
The guide to leisure, not a whip.
I measure the minutes that make up life.
I tick serene and steady in joy or catastrophe.
Often I had best be forgotten, for watching
me too closely means time lost, not gained.

I am not your mentor.
There is but One.
He does not recognize me,
For I cannot measure the infinite.
When is the tomorrow that you fear?
Do today the thing's that are today's.
Let me work happily with you.
Let me play with you.
Forget me--and win a race with time.

--Anon.

Do you have kitchen poems you've clipped from magazines and newspapers? Why not insert them one by one into your recipe books so you'll have them handy when you need a little dose of happiness?

Let poetry and cooking be a part of your day!

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