Friday, March 20, 2020

Pantry-Stocking for the Long Haul

What food do we need for our three-week quarantine?
My daughter doesn’t want me to go into stores.
She’s trying to make sure I remain on the scene
until after the virus is gone. So I pick up my phone
(to disinfect my hands), and she tells me I won’t be able to go outside anymore
after Governor Walz’s degree comes down—house-arrest for three weeks
at least! So she’ll do our shopping for us—OK, what will we need?—
Eggs, for sure, and milk, and several dozen bars
of chocolate, about a reme
of toilet paper, twenty-five cans of black beans.
And I just saw an image of the Amelung torso
of Athena, rampant serpents at her feet,
thin bronze spear in her right hand—
she’s all the more
impressive in that she arrived on the scene
purely through an effort of archeological legerdemain.
But I can't believe she doesn't exist—my God, that head-gear!
What food do we need for our three-week quarantine?
A bowl of ambrosia’d make my scene.