Poem: "Refusing to Melt"

[ysabetwordsmith]

This is today's freebie, inspired by a prompt from gs_silva. It also fills the "ribbon" square in my 3-1-26 card for the National Crafting Month Bingo fest. This poem belongs to the series Alien Romance by gs_silva.


"Refusing to Melt"

[1990]

America takes in
all kinds of people
and throws them
into the melting pot.

Maurice is American,
but he's Vietnamese too.

He doesn't want to give up
one in favor of the other.

He is refusing to melt.

Whenever someone tries
to push him down to
the bottom of the pot,
something in him rebels.

Maurice calls his mother
and asks her for recipes,
a ribbon of memory tying
him to his past, and tying
his past to his future too.

Today it's bánh khọt, which
are tiny savory pancakes filled
with shrimp and scallions ... or squid,
or mung beans, or minced pork, or
quail eggs cracked into the middle
to cook like cheerful little suns.

It doesn't matter that Maurice
doesn't have the proper pan
or the traditional brick oven.

It doesn't matter if they
come out of the hibachi and
the battered old muffin tin
a little too brown or still
a bit gooey in the middle.

It doesn't matter that Cathy
comes home and asks about
them, and Maurice struggles
to explain them in French.

She just smiles at him and
helps him with the bánh khọt,
chattering about some sort of
French pastry filling that, yeah,
sounds like it would taste
pretty good in these.

It only matters that,
together, they are
refusing to melt.

* * *

Notes:

America is often described as a melting pot. This has its ups and downs.

BÁNH KHỌT (VIETNAMESE MINI SAVORY PANCAKES)
Bánh Khọt is Vietnam’s BEST answer to mini savory pancakes! They’re light and delicate with a seriously crispy golden batter that you can hear as you bite.

Savory French pastries include a variety of flavorful fillings, such as this recipe for Savory Palmiers with Bacon, Gruyère, and Caramelized Onions.

Comments

[alatefeline]

YUM!!! What a great poem. Go them!!!

CHOOSING to share is so much more creative and fruitful and innovative than being forced into being processed cheese food.

Also, I love the collaborative aspect of willingly sharing chacrters for a little while. Kinda like loaning treasured dolls (or horsies - my personal kid-mythos was all flying horses, represented by the realistic Breyer models because I decided they were cooler than the cute colorful ponies because of nerd-snobbery and reading enough horse books to fill a barn...whoops tangent city!) for shared play making EVEN COOLER storylines.

ETA: I miiiight be willing to devote a few days to sleeping off the gluten-pain, just to try those savory palmiers.

Thank you!

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> YUM!!! What a great poem. Go them!!! <<

I'm glad you liked this. :D

>> CHOOSING to share is so much more creative and fruitful and innovative than being forced into being processed cheese food.<<

Sooth. Food is bonding. It says "I want you to continue existing." But it also says "I remember."

>> Also, I love the collaborative aspect of willingly sharing chacrters for a little while. Kinda like loaning treasured dolls (or horsies - my personal kid-mythos was all flying horses, represented by the realistic Breyer models because I decided they were cooler than the cute colorful ponies because of nerd-snobbery and reading enough horse books to fill a barn...whoops tangent city!) for shared play making EVEN COOLER storylines.<<

I love it too. People have been wandering into my storyworlds for as long as I've had friends. It's fun to be invited into someone else's setting too!

>> ETA: I miiiight be willing to devote a few days to sleeping off the gluten-pain, just to try those savory palmiers.<<

https://www.letthemeatgfcake.com/gluten-free-palmier/

https://recipes.chebe.com/gluten-free-raspberry-walnut-goat-cheese-palmiers/

Apparently gluten-free puff pastry also exists.

Re: Thank you!

[alatefeline]

I'm torn between salivating, and cackling...definitely on my list of things to try!

[gs_silva]

I had realistic model horses too! They flew sometimes. The flying wasn't a big plot point in the ongoing epic multi-toy saga that my siblings and I ran for years, but they certainly flew out of convenience sometimes. Horses gotta fly, I guess!

>>CHOOSING to share is so much more creative and fruitful and innovative than being forced into being processed cheese food.<<

Haha! So true. Um. I do have a scene where Cathy falls apart in front of the cheese display in the American supermarket. She's also deeply offended by a taco kit. And mystified by Froot Loops. She's so much fun to tease.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>I had realistic model horses too! They flew sometimes. The flying wasn't a big plot point in the ongoing epic multi-toy saga that my siblings and I ran for years, but they certainly flew out of convenience sometimes. Horses gotta fly, I guess!<<

I had a lot of stuffed or crochet horses. But I also had antique toy horses made variously of brass, bronze, copper, steel, etc. They were cast like little statues. And yes, some of mine flew too. :D

>>I do have a scene where Cathy falls apart in front of the cheese display in the American supermarket.<<

In 1990? *shudder* Not a great decade for cheese, same with the 1980s. But farther back there were the hippie cheesemakers. A few of them clung on -- they're who launched the modern artisan cheese movement and taught the folks who wanted to invent new cheeses. Thus, if Cathy could find a health food store, there might be a few worthwhile cheeses in there.

[wyld_dandelyon]

Oh, I like this one. I really like the "refusing to melt" phrase as a metaphor for all the ways people won't (or can't) be just like the people around them.

Thank you!

[ysabetwordsmith]

I'm glad this works for you.

A melting pot is great, if you're making a chunky stew. Not so much if you try to puree everything. You want the flavors to blend together while leaving the main ingredients identifiable.

[gs_silva]

Yes yes! This is one of the themes of my comic, and ysabetwordsmith and I have noted this theme in each other's storytelling. It's lovely to have such different storytellers connect in this way.

Characters who don't fit, but then don't try to make each other fit, and form a merry band of misfits each with their own tastes! And perhaps surprising each other by developing cross-cultural tastes. In my comic yesterday, Cathy the French woman was happily eating Cheetos and watching the Reds beat the A's in the World Series. She can't pronounce 'Cincinnati' and some of her American friends don't even understand baseball...

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> This is one of the themes of my comic <<

That's one of the things I love about it.

It's lovely to have such different storytellers connect in this way.

>> Characters who don't fit, but then don't try to make each other fit, and form a merry band of misfits each with their own tastes! And perhaps surprising each other by developing cross-cultural tastes. <<

Agreed. I like to put it, "When everyone is different, everyone belongs."

>> In my comic yesterday, Cathy the French woman was happily eating Cheetos and watching the Reds beat the A's in the World Series. She can't pronounce 'Cincinnati' and some of her American friends don't even understand baseball...<<

Hee!

[gs_silva]

LOVE THIS

>>Whenever someone tries
to push him down to
the bottom of the pot,
something in him rebels.<<

This passage made me tear up. Awww. Can't keep the lil guy down. ♥

>>quail eggs cracked into the middle
to cook like cheerful little suns.<<

Now I'm hungry, too. It's true; Vietnamese food is aesthetically pleasing. As is French food. I'm sure many people know or can guess that there's a lot of food in Vietnam that's French fusion. Phô mat is fromage and bánh is pain and kem is crème. I would totally try Cathy's experimental versions of bánh khọt. (Unless it has snails. Vietnamese cuisine has so many snails. Not a lot of gluten and almost no dairy, but if you're not that into consuming invertebrates, good luck to you!)

>>It only matters that,
together, they are
refusing to melt.<<

Ahhhhh, my heart just gave out. *dies of poignancy*

Thank you!

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> LOVE THIS <<

Yay! :D

>> This passage made me tear up. Awww. Can't keep the lil guy down. ♥ <<

*hankie*

>> Now I'm hungry, too. <<

That's why I started including recipes when I write about food, because people kept asking how to make it.

>It's true; Vietnamese food is aesthetically pleasing. As is French food. I'm sure many people know or can guess that there's a lot of food in Vietnam that's French fusion. Phô mat is fromage and bánh is pain and kem is crème. <<

Fascinating.

>> I would totally try Cathy's experimental versions of bánh khọt. <<

I think she was looking at cheese and vegetable options, although one had bacon.

>> (Unless it has snails. Vietnamese cuisine has so many snails. Not a lot of gluten and almost no dairy, but if you're not that into consuming invertebrates, good luck to you!) <<

I tried escargot once. It was like eating garlic-flavored erasers. I was not impressed. I enjoy most seafood though.

>> Ahhhhh, my heart just gave out. *dies of poignancy* <<

My work here is done.