A few weeks ago, my friend Dean came over to check on me following my knee replacement surgery. He came at lunchtime and brought coleslaw and cookies to go with Sloppy Joes I whipped up the day before. Dean and I have been friends since 1967, when we were both 12 years old. As in most friendships, there have been times we saw each other frequently and other periods when – both of us busy with careers and growing families – there were long stretches between our visits. Now we are older, and our visits are more consistent. It is a sad fact that as one ages there is more time for friendship but fewer friends with which to share that time. I’m not sure how to change that dynamic, but I am grateful for Dean’s friendship and the friendship of a handful of other long-time friends.

After our visit, the lingering taste of Sloppy Joes sent me searching through online writing folders (I use the free version of zoho.com to store my writing). I found what I was looking for in folders labeled ‘Ideas for Poems’ and ‘Warm-Up Exercises.’ These folders are not where I keep final-draft, highfalutin poems (highfalutin is one word; I checked). These folders are where I jot down ideas that may or – more likely – may not become poems. This is where I keep track of a few lines that I think are fun and don’t want to lose track of. Please accept these in the spirit they are offered. If you’re more in the mood for something along the lines of TS Eliot’s The Wasteland, click here.

My grandchildren  
don't eat Sloppy Joes
and they don’t eat
what we called goulash.
You'll find no fish sticks
in their parents' freezers, 
no Jello®* with canned pears
or iceberg lettuce
and off-brand thousand island.

I attribute this to the fact
that few of my generation -
and fewer still of my children’s - 
had to stretch a dollar 
the way our parents did, 
and Wednesday night dinners 
have never been the same.

(* If you were a kid growing up when I did and where I did, you ate Jello all the time. On any particular night, Jello might be your side dish, your salad or your dessert. Fast forward 60 years and I'm working at an elementary school near my home. Cups of Jello are served at lunch one day, green Jello with canned peaches or pears. The kids have never had Jello before, and one girl calls out to her friends, "You should try the Jello; it's really good!" Somewhere, my mother was smiling.)
__________

Dawn's Sloppy Joes
 
A metaphor for late life could be
searching for lost recipes;
like other things I once possessed
substitutes do not impress.

Sloppy Joes from the kitchen of Dawn:
The world’s best Sloppy Joe recipe, unusual because of the celery and canned mushrooms (the latter being straight out of the 1960’s). The late Dawn was my sister-in-law and a wonderful friend.

1lb. ground beef
1 c. chopped onion
1 c. chopped celery
1 4oz. can sliced mushrooms, drained
1 can condensed tomato soup
1/2 c. catsup plus a few drops of hot sauce
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp.monosodium glutamate (updated for the 21^st century)
Dash pepper
5 or 6 hamburger buns
American cheese (optional)

Brown ground beef.  Add onion and celery; cook until both are soft but not brown, drain.  Add soup, catsup, mushrooms and seasonings. Stir to combine and simmer, low and uncovered, for about 10 minutes. Spoon the mixture over buns, top with slice of cheese if desired. Makes 5-6 servings.

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A New Poem Every Monday
(tho’ sometimes life gets in the way)

Joseph Neely, all rights to original material reserved