The Tangled Branch Discussion Forums

Submitted to Publ land

Phil, one preliminary question, please. 

What is a buttie? I've got a site that says it's a disease that causes people to stick their butts in where they're not wanted. I have a feeling it's used here to mean food of some kind.

Jackie

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2020/a ... ip-butties

I've changed the spelling to butty

best

Phil

I love the back-door twist you give this. Not just the joy of comfort food but comfort food taken on the rebound from tragedy. Even betrayal, if Best Practice is all a con. Does this poem also ring true, say, in teaching?

Jackie

Thanks Jackie. The truth here is relative to individual context and narrative. How much that truth resonates and rings true outside the poem is a question for the reader. On a personal level, I was ill for a number of months, the doctors tried a variety of antibiotics and I tried a variety of food regimes. Better now. I do believe in an equation of diet/health and an
equation of happiness/health. Those equations can contradict. Just personal belief and I suspect time was a healer in my own circumstance. Perhaps the poem expresses an emotional truth

best

Phil

I love the way this reads. Almost Shakespearian I've been on a liquid diet thanks to a whole lot of oral surgery. I can't wait to get my teeth into things gooey and crunchy. French fries on buttered bread is not something I'll ever hunger for. 

I agree with you Phil, one must weigh the emotional damage done by living in a state of deprivation against the damage done by a big bowl of potato salad loaded with mayonnaise. 

Glad to hear you have recovered.

Thanks Linda. I feel many tastes are acquired, through family and culture. As a child my parents visited some friends in the Rhondda valley. I was treated to a chocolate digestive biscuit in a sandwich (buttered bread). Never acquired a taste for that one

The oral surgery, and resultant liquid diet, sounds horrendous. Deprivation certainly enhances an appreciation...Not potato salad and mayo...more chocolate brownie with plenty of gooey chocolate centre

Phil

Enjoyed this Phil.
Eating healthy is all well and good. But there are times when
what you really want (regardless of how unhealthy) is the best
thing to consume. My parents were brought up on full-fat everything,
my father died at 90, my mother is 87 and still enjoys a vital life.
Glad you're on the mend and are still eating 'nice' things

Thanks Colm. I particularly enjoyed your parental examples .

Phil

Ah yes, the humble chip butty... I'm partial to cheese and onion crisps with mayo, biltong and olives on buttered ciabatta. Tastes better than it sounds... 

The poem is also like a chip butty... simple substance without unnecessary garnish. I did feel the rhyme scheme became noticeable due to mild enforcement and then, given that ruthlessness, also thought more effort could have gone into also connecting lines 4 & 8.  Otherwise enjoyed the wry and whimsical read. 

PS. Look into kineseology. Seems to work for many people.