Purple Poets
poets AT purplepoets.com

writer-in-residence
Kim Morrissey

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The theme for National Poetry Day 2004
was Food. These are poems from
our on-going recipe book.

please click here
for all the recipes.

Bloomsbury Time Bank
THE PURPLE POETS

a celebration of food and drink

TWO RECIPES FROM OUR BOOK: fresh smoothies Aria's 5 minute ice cream THINK PURPLE! THINK POETS! NATIONAL POETRY WEEK SMOOTHIES created by Jake Kanter for the Family Mosaic and Hackney Time Bank Older People's Day St. Mark's Church, Dalston 02.10.2010 Frozen raspberries bananas and apple juice are all that you need --- and a VERY noisy blender. Whiz. Share. Enjoy! 02.10.2010. Purple Poets' founding member Serajul Islam Molla attended this event and read his poems: Diwali Lights, How Not to Cook Chicken, The Existence of Love, The Captain, and the Bridge-maker (for William Radice) to celebrate Older People's Day, and National Poetry Day 2010. This event, in honour of Older People's Day  2010  was co-produced by Family Mosaic and Hackney Time Bank Saint Mark's Church Community Hall, Saint Mark's Rise, Dalston, Hackney Aria's Scientific Ice Cream (20.12.2008 cook: Aria Sen, age 10) (taught to Kim at Aria's house during the 2008 New Delhi International Literature Festival) special equipment needed: two self-sealing plastic bags (a little bag and a big bag) Little Bag: 200 ml cream (Aria used UHT single cream) 2 Tablespoons chocolate sauce (Aria used Hershey's) (or any other flavouring you like, including vanilla) 2 Tablespoons sugar Mix the ingredients in a small plastic freeze bag. Seal the bag and roll the top down (to take out as much air as possible, which will speed up the freezing). Seal the bag or the salt and ice will get in and ruin your ice cream! (but don't use a double-bag, or your ice cream won't freeze in five minutes) Big Bag (or a self-sealing solid plastic container): ICE CUBES TABLE SALT Fill the  BIG BAG halfway up with ice cubes, and add 5 Tablespoons of salt to the ice. THEN put the Little Bag with the cream mixture into the Big Bag and seal. Shake the Big Bag for about 5 minutes until it looks like ice cream. Delicious! For more recipes please click HERE

ARIA'S SCIENTIFIC ICE CREAM
by Bithi Das

AFTER THE WAR
(the chocolate poem)
(by Patsy Futatsugi)

HOW NOT TO COOK CHICKEN:
Cooking for One
(by Islam Molla)

COOKING WITH MY GANDFATHER
(by Eppie Caredda)

MY VERY SRI LANKAN DAY
(by Bithi Das)

STRAWBERRIES
(by Kathy Randle)

STRAWBERRIES
(by Bithi Das)

MY FAVOURITE FOOD:
THE FOOD OF MY MOTHER
(by Nahar Islam)

I LIKE CHRISTMAS
(by Eppie Caredda)

OUR BENGALI NEW YEAR
(by Islam Molla)

BENGALI NEW YEAR
(by Bithi Das)

PLAYING CARROM
WITH THE PURPLE POETS
(by Patsy Futatsugi)

MEMORY OF MY GRANDMOTHER COOKING
(by Bithi Das)


(All poems © the Purple Poets. All rights reserved.)


POEMS




BITHI DAS
Aria's Scientific Experiment:
A Five Minute Ice Cream
(for Aria who is only ten)
POETRY ON A PLATE
summer inter-generational project
  21.08.2009


You scream
I Scream
It is little Aria's
Scientific Dream.

A five Minute Ice Cream.

In a bag
Mix the chocolate, sugar and cream
Seal the mixture  in
Add a salty-ice cube rim

All goes in our purple box.

THEN

Shake your arm
Shake your ass
Don't worry
It won't smash.

Five minutes gone
The ice cream is done
Now the time to test

Oh - Yes
It is one of the best!







PATSY FUTATSUGI
After The War
22.07.2006


My mother worked in a sweet shop
And every Friday she brought me
My special treat. Fuller's Chocolates .

Round with bits of purple and red
Square nougat, sugared almonds
Walnuts covered in Dark and Milk
Chocolate. They were just there
Every Friday when she was paid.

One Friday my mother forgot
I remember screaming
Kicking and crying
"Where's my bloody chocolates"
And being put to bed without supper.

The next Friday she came home
With more glossy, shiny,
Gooey chocolates.
Glossy, shiny, creamy,
Milky, syrupy-sweet

Smearing on the hands and face
Of a five year old

Melting in my mouth.

ISLAM MOLLA
How Not to Cook Chicken:
Cooking for One
08.05.2010


Sometimes
I cook chicken but
it is not very tasty

I cut it into pieces
or get the butcher to cut it
and then put oil

onion, ginger, chilies
garlic is a must
all those good things put together

The only thing is:
I take it out and it is dismal.
I am hopeless.
I cook only for survival:
boiled egg.
boiled rice.
boiled egg.

EPPIE CAREDDA
COOKING WITH MY GRANDFATHER
(In My Country)
08.05.2010

Chicken and Pork Adobo
Is easy. We had it always
In the Phillipines on weekends.
A special dish.

I was brought up very tenderly
And sweetly by my grandfather,
And when I was young
My grandfather and I
Loved to cook  this!

Chicken and Pork
Or Chicken and Beef.
In my country
We always
Mix two kinds 
                - more juice.

BITHI DAS
MY VERY SRI LANKAN DAY
FIRST DRAFT 26.02.2009


I have been to Sri Lanka in 1982
But we came here to the Crypt Centre
To celebrate Sri Lankan Day.

Most came for one temptation:
To eat the Fish Curry
Specially cooked by
Khassim's wife Fatima
Made with wild salmon

I have never liked salmon fish
I don't like the fishy smell  
But I ate the curry
For the sake of eating
And for the sake
Of Khassim and Fatima.

And it was nice
It was very nice
To  taste Sri Lankan curry
To remember Sri Lanka
But most of all, to celebrate
With Khassim and Fatima
Their Independence Day.

BITHI DAS
STRAWBERRIES
by Bithi Das
31.05.2007

Strawberries are like roses
Full of beautiful secrets

You snip a rose
and only one word
comes from your mouth
                                    Aahha.

you eat a strawberry
and it melts in your mouth
                        you say Aahha.

It is nothing but eternal pleasure.


Bithi Das first performed this poem with the Purple Poets
at the TAP 10th Anniversary Celebrations 2007
(TEN POEMS IN FIVE MINUTES) and also performed it
at the CAF Summer Fair, South Bank, London in August 2007.

FERDOUS RAHMAN
FIRST STRAWBERRIES
31.05.2007


England is
Wimbledon
Strawberries

Handpicked fruit and fresh cream.
British tradition in full swing.

NAHAR ISLAM
My Favourite Food:
The Food of My Mother
By Narah Islam
01.04.2008


My favourite food
Cooked by my mother

Everything fresh
Bought by my father!

Lovely beef, korma and Pillou
Fried Koi and Hilsha fish

How tasty they were
The best food you could wish!

Ripe pineapple, guava, papaya
but Bananas were best

The king of Fruits
Better than the rest!

The pitha and puddings
My mother put aside

We found out and ate -
She wasn’t able to hide!

I can’t forget them
Their taste was so good

I remember my parents
And – Mmmm – delicious food!



This poem was devised  by Nahar
as a book for children (two lines to a page).

NAHAR ISLAM
The Joy of Christmas
first draft  06.12.2007


The heavenly taste of fruit!
The taste of life!

EPPIE CAREDDA
I LIKE CHRISTMAS
first draft 06.12.200



Christmas is like a Mince Pie
Crunchy and buttery and messy
I can’t help it, I have to bite
And I can’t stop at just one!


Christmas is like Chocolates,
tempting, melting on your tongue
So amazingly gorgeously  sweet
and yummily yummily yum!


My friends, we can’t stop
Till we finish my box
So Cheers!
Merry  Christmas To Everyone!





SERAJUL ISLAM MOLLA
Bengali New Year
first draft 20.03.2008




Bengali New Year is a great celebration
With family, friends, relations, even all the
People in your street and locality

The whole motto is to Eat, Drink and Be Merry,
You may not be alive
The next year!




BITHI DAS
Bengali New Year
First draft
20.03.2008



New Year, 14th of April
Beginning of our year’s calendar
From childhood I knew
That eventful day

My mother will give me a new saree
Which I always looked forward to
Another new saree
So elegant

And so many sweets to eat
Rasgulla, Gulabjamun

I was young and greedy
Only that day I can eat so much
Well, only one day I can
Have that kind of thing

I have to wait another 364 days

Isn’t it sad?

PATSY FUTATSUGI
Playing Carrom
For The First Time
With the Purple Poets
05.01.2009


Imagine the scene
with all the talking and laughing
and whooping when it hits home

Food being cooked to hand round
Greasy fingers
Wonderful aroma!

Playing Carrom is like Pool
without a cue
Flicking Fingers to Thumb

And it hurts

Especially when misslose.






Kathy Randle's Celebration Glogg
('glogg' is mulled wine; the word is a mixing of 'grogg' and 'glug')

made by Kathy, Christmas Party O2.12.2005
made by Kathy, Christmas Party 14.12.2006
Mulled Wine donated by Purple Poets
poem "Ode to Kathy" (Christmas 2005) by Bithi Das


3 bottles of cheap red wine
9 small pieces of lemon peel
9 pieces whole cardamon
9 whole cloves
3 small pieces of ginger (sliced finely or use ground ginger)
6 pieces of cinnamon sticks (or ground cinnamon)
12 oz. raisins (or sultanas or currants)
1 ½ pints water
4 oz of sugar (or to taste)
(optional -- 6 oz flaked almonds)

Makes 4 ½ pints

Boil up wine with ingredients.
Add water and sugar to taste.
Add more cinnamon if required.
Make early morning and reheat when required.

THE ESSENCE OF CHRISTMAS:
KATHY'S RANDLE CHRISTMAS GLOGG

the cheaper the better
is the secret
buying wine for your Glogg.
Two pounds?
Too much!

MEMORY OF MY GRANDMOTHER COOKING
by Bithi Das
first draft 15.05.2010


I learned this dish
from my grandmother.
She loved to cook
and it came into my mind
as a child to test, to eat!

The first time I cooked
with my grandmother
I was ten years old.
Even now I am seventy-five
Still in my mouth,
The taste hasn't been lost.

I still close my eyes
and remember my grandmother
I see her, cooking
as I see and taste
golden red

For Serena
by Kim Morrissey
first draft 24.11.2006


You are there

baking for Christmas, siphoning
wine in the afternoon

laughing at The Singer Not the Song
your first schoolgirl crush

in Sales I see your colours:
Cinnamon, Spice, Terracotta, Rust.

I put them back
for someone else

breathing in the Blackened Orange
the small ache of cloves

Red Sand; Dust.

South Bank Digital Poetry Magazine Project (painted, spoken)
http://www.poetrymagazines.org.uk/magazine/issue.asp?id=687

The Art of Cookin


This is the salad of Heather
too busy to cook but never
too busy to eat with friends!

TBUK
Time Banking UK,
The Exchange,
Brick Row,
Stroud GL5 1DF
Tel: 01453 750952
info@timebanks.co.uk

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