A Child’s Calendar of Feasts
September
Peel some hazelnuts while they’re still green. Our grapes can hang another day.
October
Take these walnuts next door. Tell them we will kill the black pig tomorrow. Prosciutto
and sausages will hang above the stove. (All those acorns you gathered to fill its belly!)
November
A slice of polenta will warm you. It is rich with beans and sugo. The sun is dropping like a stone.
December
Wait till the chestnuts are roasted and the crostole are cool enough to sugar. What a feast we will have!
About this poem
This poem was reproduced on a postcard for National Poetry Day 2004. Eight poetry postcards are published each year by the Scottish Poetry Library to celebrate National Poetry Day and are distributed throughout Scotland to schools, libraries and other venues. The theme for 2004 was food. You can find out more about National Poetry Day in our National Poetry Day pages, where you’ll also find resources to go with the poems.
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Christine De Luca
Christine De Luca is a Shetland writer now living in Edinburgh. She writes her poetry in English and in Shetlandic, her mother tongue. She was appointed Edinburgh's Makar for 2014-2017.
