Poem on John Ashbery’s Later Poems

by Daniel Bosch

Pringles are fun!
Simultaneously convex and concave, Pringles mirror the society that demands them.
Someday Pringles may be revealed to comprise an epic structure.
Is a countless multitude of Pringles in production?
The manufacturer does not use the singular “Pringle.”

Unlike many food-products, Pringles were invented. Vacuum-sealed
In their stackable container, Pringles remain fresh forever.
Potato-based, Pringles are at most 50% potato.
The principal non-nutritive ingredient in Pringles is salt.
The words “salt,” “salary,” and “sales” derive from the same etymological root.

It is pleasing to put whole Pringles in one’s mouth and to break them on one’s tongue.
Yet fragments of Pringles are just as good as wholes—and sometimes they taste better.
Though they are light and somewhat brittle, critics use Pringles to convey dips and sauces.
Years ago, the manufacturer announced, “Pringles is the food product of the future.”
Now it is the future, and the era of Pringles seems a long way off, if it is going to come at all.

I love Pringles!

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About the Author

Daniel Bosch is a Boston-based poet and the winner of the Boston Review’s first annual poetry contest. Daniel is also a poetry critic for The Arts Fuse.

Image

From Mariana Moreira: pringles, 2008 (CC)