Contest: More Entries For Beer Poetry Slam 2008
It's happening. Adam over at Beer Bits 2 forwards this, which he says is something he wrote while drinking Sierra Nevada ESB:
a pint is too easyAnd Mike in Torontowote as well, speding in this one called "sweet beer":
to quaff
the wine glass full up with beer is better
to take insip after sip
pull after pullfunky earthy sweet bread fills my nose
sticky lace
entrances my eyes
earthy tang sweetly coats my tongue
sweet, beautiful beer —Poetry is flowing and flowing in to beerblog at gmail dot com. Join. Prizes and rule and everything else you need to know is here.you are not always that sweet
are you?
you are often bitter and sweet
at the same time
"bittersweet" you might call it
and i willfinest of pleasures, most humble of pleasures
you are the drink of the people
the drink of /my/ people
drink of my choice
good enough for me
but really too good for meso when i pour you —
it's with cautious respect.
more respect than i've shown any lover of mine
heed your structure, liquid revolutionary
foam formations fragment stained-glass ceilings
the most headstrong of drinks
yet so delicatemy ritual:
you're too cold, i warm you with my hands
my hands become cold from warming you
i run them under the hot water as long as i can stand it
and immediately wrap my hands back around you
i want to unleash your scent
your true flavour
i will know your sweet bitterness so much better when you adjust
to the temperature of this room...dark foam floats upon dark fluid...
sophisticated words to describe you won't come
but they don't matter right now
they'll come later
right now i need to wet my lips
with yousweet beer —
(sweet mother who art in heaven)
i actually mutter this small impromptu prayer
though i am not a religious man,
i can imagine how it feels to be a trappist monk right now.
worn, warm palms cradle a glass goblet
feeling its cool weight, its patience
its curative properties
vapours drift, rising like patron saints to ancient monastery ceilings
echoing off pipe organ and brass tun
sending clamours between my cheeks like the church bells of grimbergen
i almost need to back awayput you down lest the bitterness and the sweetness overwhelm me
i want to have you —
not just consume you, but have you.
i want you to still be there when i turn around
thank god there are others like you.
Thank You - Andrew Jones (California, MD)
Tradition in History
I
Olde Enkidu unwashed bestial man
Took bread & beer from prostitutes hand
Gilgamesh’s trickery custom of the land
Ancient oral sages tell of beasts & beer
Nectar of the gods & Sumerian cheer
One man’s tomfoolery turns another’s to fear
Seven beers & Enkidu’s heart soared
Liquid gold was mightier than the sword
One man’s weakness is another’s restored
Ninkasi hymn of devotion & bliss
Was it the beer or the prostitute’s kiss
That sent Enkidu into the human abyss
What elixir turns animal to human
As it passes through the intestinal lumen
Somehow makes most men subhuman
II
Grain-growing wusa from heaven
Emmer wheat brewed from Egyptian leaven
Replica passed on from Tutankhamun
Beer bible author James Death
Wrote about its history with his every breath
Drank even by Shakespearian’s Macbeth
Early humans cultivated barley & wheat
Drove the nomadic life into defeat
Village life was now reinforced in concrete
Brewing knowledge passed from culture to culture
Fermented in Greek, Roman & English climature
Ceres green thumb – goddess of agriculture
Thracians brytos made different from rye
Hellanicus of Lesbos operas did sigh
Sing thy opus of brutos upon high
III
Water mostly spoiled by human waste
Preferred ale to quench their taste
Middle Ages dark, dingy & displaced
Bitter the age made good by hops
French cultivated aplenty a crops
For their ingenuity we must give them their props
Monastery monks and artisan brew masters
Took homemaking brewing and made it faster
For mass consumption without nasty aster
Ale or beer whatever one calls it
Unhopped or hopped in 15th century Britt
Purification tied to a judicial writ
Brewers Company of London went so far as to state
“No hops, herbs or other” will desecrate
Our ale which we honor and stipulate
IV
Reinheitsgebot of William IV from Bavaria
Became the standard brew law & all its hysteria
Something about Germans & their quest for purity criteria
History cannot dispute German beer pleasure
The Gebot gave us a boldly aromatic treasure
That few cultures can replicate or measure
The French Pasteur’s important added piece
Now water, barley, hops & yeast
Another Frenchman ordains our liquid feast
Another century & an accidental brew
The Lager was born in a cavernous debut
Crisper taste & a wonderful hue
Europeans preserved the art & craft
Passed down from ancient handcraft
This gave them a splendid draught
V
America born - & beer brewing continues
Innovation to brewing brings rave reviews
Thermometer & hydrometer was all the news
Maltsters and brewers worked hand in hand
To damper the fire that dried malt fanned -
Smokeless malt was all the demand
Once malt’s drying problem was figured out
Multi-malt beers became the entire shout
Dark roasted porters & flavorful stouts
An invention by Wheeler & his roaster drum
Made beer all the better – better than rum
An invention from heaven that’s time had come
Mankind’s gluttony & drunkard’s frustration
Governmental laws and heavy taxation
Turned back the hands of time without reservation
VI
Coutts development of continuous fermentation
Made modern day beer making an abomination
By taking out the individualization
Business was booming & so was the nation
Foxtrot, jiggerbug was all the sensation
Women at home wanting rights and voter registration
Their movement brought down the brewing establishment
Liquor wasn’t without their abatement
This brought on a new accompaniment
Bootlegging thugs and racketeering careers
Drew upon American’s worst fears
An alcohol-less country could go on for years
Prohibition killed the craftsmen’s diligence
Subduing the palette’s consciousness
Into benign taste buds & unconsciousness
VI
Time continued and companies made huge profits
As our zombie forefathers drank to their hearts contents
The light-beered lager was the staple of their diets
The craft-brewed interest sparked a revolution
With pale ales, pilsners, weisbiers in old tradition
Hearty Bohemian & the Belgians contribution
It is with crisp elegance and a refined mission
That they keep brewing not in an American tradition
But for the History of brewing in all its sensation
Beer or ale – call it what you will
Served room temperature or chilled
Will sure to give you your ultimate thrill
Hudson Valley TAP New York 2008
Alan McLeod & his Good Beer Blog we appreciate
& all the fine food on our Hudson Valley plate
By Andrew Jones
California, MD