28 Oct 2015 Garlic Story Contest – 1st Place

Haiku – Two Sets

by Dan Tanner 

Autumn senses

Musky knife-crushed cloves

leak their juices on a board

Garlic fingertips

Sunlight through a crack

dries-out curling green scapes

nailed to wooden walls

Teardrops paint her cheeks

Smashing garlic and onion

makes her lungs breathe clear

Cabbage in clay pots

curdles under soft black earth

Kimchi in the womb

Dawn. Scattered field mice

burrow, gnaw at seeds and grain

Garlic left untouched

Observations at the Toronto Garlic Festival

A girl’s cheek presses

the St Clair streetcar window

“Mom, I smell garlic”

“Fresh Rocambole!

Rare and heirloom garlic here!”

“Music” to my ears

Striped, red, gold, blue, black

garlic spills from a rattan

cornucopia

Chefs, farmers, foodies

gather garlic at Wychwood

to scarf and stock up

September dessert:

garlic, pepper and chocolate

melted on fresh peach