Culinary Taboos
Hot dogs, tacos, ham on rye
are the ways that I get by.
I don’t like caviar on toast,
and what I really hate the most
are liver, tripe or heart or brains.
These are the things my taste disdains.
I cannot masticate and eat
These things that, think, digest or beat.
The height of what my mouth deplores,
they’re what my stomach most deplores.
And it has never been my habit
to eat lamb or veal or rabbit,
possibly because it gets
me thinking about former pets
and liaisons with baby creatures
that were very frequent features
in a childhood wherein we
sheltered a menagerie
of magpies, bunnies, kittens, rabbits
that fulfilled my parents’ habits
to collect those orphaned things
that often life presents and brings
to those who notice what is needed
by those abandoned or defeated..
Zippy, Fluffy, Tiger, Poo
were the names of just a few
babies that became our peers
within our formative years,
which is why I still dispute
eating things so young and cute.
But reasons that I do not eat
any fish or organ meat?
The answer is succinct and easy.
They just simply make me queazy!
True story? Yes, we really did have a baby raccoon named Zippy and all of these other orphaned animals brought home from the ranch by my father and raised like her own kids by my mother.
And yes, this poem rambles a bit, but for Pete’s sake, look at the prompt words!! Not complaining, just explaining….And that is Zippy up there as an illustration not of a possible cuisine choice, but he was one of our orphaned animal adoptees.
Prompts today are zippy, possible, rye, liaison, height and shelter.
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 
Sounds like an interesting childhood! I once rescued a baby possum and nursed it back to health. There’s a lot of satisfaction in saving small animals and seeing them become strong enough to go back into the world.
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Ha, loved this one! And appreciated hearing the true reason too 😉
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Judy,
Hoping all is well with Zoe, but you have had some kind of life! I think this is a first for me: a picture of a pet raccoon! Your parents set the mold for your love of animals. Wonderful heritage.
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They did. Both of them. They set a number of molds for me that I will always be grateful for.
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You did have a challenge with those prompts! Well done, and agreeable, and I love that you had so many unusual pets, me too! ☺
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What pets did you have?
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Do you really dislike liver and brains? What do they have to do with small animals?
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Hate them. Explained why in these lines: I cannot masticate and eat
These things that, think, digest or beat. (brain, tripe and heart) I list a few things I can’t eat: fish and seafood, baby animals and the aforementioned organs. What they have in common is that I cannot make myself eat them.
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I understand, but liver? It doesn’t think, digest, or beat. Forgive me for being a ‘nudnik,’ if you know what that means.
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You need your liver to digest anything you eat that has fat in it.
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I think I missed that lesson in high school.
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Me, too. I’ve learned as much researching material for blogs as I did in high school, I think.
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I’m with you when it comes to eating organs–no way. And rabbit, lamb or veal. You made a cohesive poem out of a challenging word selection! And Zippy was pretty cute.
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I have cuter photos of him when tinier but this was the one I found. I’ve done posts about him. Such a fun pet. His mother had been killed by dogs on a neighbor’s ranch so we adopted him.
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Loved the poem😂
Sent from my iPhone
>
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Adorable raccoon. I’ll bet he was released to the wild as an adult!
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He was..I’ll attach the story if I can find it…if you want to read it.
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Yes! I would like that.
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Okay.. Done. Check my blog:
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Wonderfully told story. I’m surprised he did so well as a pet as an adult.
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He hibernated in the winter but continued to relate to us during the other seasons.
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Your mother’s talents as an animal trainer must be legendary!
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Well, within our family, they were. Once we all left home and they sold the ranch and moved to Arizona, they never had another animal.
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