Rattle #88, Summer 2025: Tribute to Food Poems

The Summer 2025 issue focuses on a topic dear to everyone: food. Food writing itself is a vibrant industry, but writing about food is harder than it seems. There are fewer words for flavor than there are for the other senses, and so many of the words we do have to describe what we eat are cliché. Often, writing about food comes down to the journey. We explore this in the conversation with perhaps the best food writer alive, former editor of Gourmet magazine, Ruth Reichl. As always, the open section features an eclectic set of unforgettable poems to kick it off.

Food Poems
Last Rodeo by Sherri Alms
When I Didn't Eat, It Wasn't Food I Was Saying ... by Michael Battisto
Feed by Jared M. Campbell
Chit Chat by Alison Davis
Sandwich Standoff by Thad DeVassie
Lesson in Mathematics by Amy Dougher-Solórzano
If There Is Anyone Who Can Give You Permission by Morrow Dowdle
Good Humor Freezer by Meg Eden
Bonagameise by Gail Eisenhart
Feast by Janet Fitch
In Praise of Pyrex by Paige Gilchrist
Mom's Steamed Chicken Recipe by Tai Wei Guo
Afternoons with the Market Vendor by P.W. Jarungpiterah
On Finding a Bit of Theodore Roethke's Poem... by Paul Jones
Ham Sandwich by Tamara Kreutz
My Mother's Kitchen by Sneha Madhavan-Reese
The Patron Saint of Fluster by James Davis May
Dropping the Pickle by Howard Nelson
On Our First Date, He Takes Me to a Fancy French... by Yoda Olinyk
Last Supper by Chiwenite Onyekwelu
I Can't Say Much on Camembert Or by J.B. Penname
Bad Bacon by John Poch
Edible Poetry by Lisa J. Roberts
The Bottomless Pit by Mather Schneider
The Lord's Asado by Francisco Castro Videla

Open Poetry
Lascaux by Lewis Buzbee
Podcast by John Glowney
Dolorimetry by Nick Lantz
17. 50 an Hour by Sarah Leman
Roach by Patricia Ndombe
New Jersey Woman Wins $2M in Atlantic City... by Lexi Pelle
Bottle Spinning and When All the Books Are Gone by Jessy Randall
Coins Stacked on a Gravestone and The Mousetrap by Daniel Seifert
The Mirror Stageby Ravi Shankar
Mormon Missionariesby Gwendolyn Soper
She Won't Take Her Medicine by Lauren Tess
Touch by Matthew Thorburn
About a Lady by Brandon L. Williams

Conversation with Ruth Reichl

Cover by Heather Ihn Martin