Poetry Connection: Connecting with Family and Friends at Thanksgiving

 

Melinda Palacio, Santa Barbara Poet Laureate 2023-2025

2025 marks another quarter of a century without my mother at Thanksgiving. She would have been 76 this today, December 5. I was happy to have spent the holiday with her best friends, Mary and Eddie, and their son and grandson. Mary’s grandson needed help with his homework assignment: an ode on any subject. I had heard about this assignment a few days ago when Mary telephoned to ask if I could explain what an ode is to her grandson, Moctezuma. I was more than willing to help. After all Mary Rose had helped me with my English homework when I was in high school. I recall the frantic phone calls when I had spent too much time procrastinating on an English essay. Mary Rose was great at calming me down and letting me know that I could get the assignment done in time. My mother and Mary used to teach at the same elementary school. Sometimes, it is easier to get advice from someone who is not immediately related to you.

Moctezuma already had a pretty good idea of what an ode was. We talked about its greek origins and how the form is a praise poem that can be on any subject. He chose his favorite food: guacamole. Over the phone, I prompted him to do some free writing and jot down any words related to his subject, beginning with an avocado plant to the fruit to the making of the dish. I wanted him to have at least a page or two of notes so he wouldn’t come to the page or computer empty handed. This is very much how I approach any kind of writing assignment. I always start with paper and a pen or pencil and simply write down ideas. On rare occasions, when I am on a very tight deadline and am offering a review or writing on a subject that I know very well, I will skip the free writing process. It’s very comforting and makes any assignment more manageable to have ideas, words, and phrases that will make it into your final draft.

While we were waiting on the turkey, I asked to see his ode and was surprised that he hadn’t written it. Although, given that I am a grand procrastinator, I understood that he had other things to do on his holiday. He pulled out his handwritten notes and found a quiet corner to write. From his quick draft, it was obvious he had been thinking about his poem over the past couple of days. Because he had a few pages of notes and ideas, the process of writing was quick and easy. It may have looked like procrastination, but his mind was doing the thinking and organizing in the background. I think we have another poet in the family.

We worked through three drafts of his ode before he pressed the send button and turned in his assignment online. I asked him if he was nervous working with me but he said that my enthusiasm made him enjoy writing poetry. It was a special honor to tutor someone I’ve known since birth.

This week’s poem comes from 17-year old Moctezuma Ortega, a senior at Franklin High School in Los Angeles. He enjoys Cross Country and Track and Field. This is his first published poem.

Ode to the Guacamole

by Moctezuma Ortega

Oh guacamole, how long I’ve waited

for your body to ripen

so you can be seasoned

and enlighten my body with nutrients

I await the day

that you age

from a grape-sized ball

to a plump oval fruit

split in two

reveal your yellowish-green inside

along with the core

a temporary separation

Its flesh I mash

until its texture becomes smooth 

not like the chunky puree preferred by my father,

whose nickname is Guacamole

next comes the lemon

its citrus flavor infuses

with the avocado mush

at last

I sprinkle in the spices

add the garlic salt

grandma Mary introduced me to

With the dip ready

I devour it with tortilla chips

the taste reminds me

of my favorite childhood restaurant

El Arco Iris

* an earlier version of this column was published in the Santa Barbara Independent