Food Poetry 9: Splitting an Order

This poem appeared back in September on The Writer's Almanac—which gives us all the great gift of daily verse—and I fell in love with it. I hope you enjoy it, too.

A few words about the poet. Ted Kooser is a Midwestern boy. He was born in Ames, Iowa, and now teaches at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He served as Poet Laureate of the United States from 2004 to 2006, and he is a winner of the Pulitzer Prize in poetry.

Valentines, the book in which this poem appears, is a collection of 22 years of Valentine's Day poems with illustrations.

Splitting an Order

I like to watch an old man cutting a sandwich in half,
maybe an ordinary cold roast beef on whole wheat bread,
no pickles or onion, keeping his shaky hands steady
by placing his forearms firm on the edge of the table
and using both hands, the left to hold the sandwich in place,
and the right to cut it surely, corner to corner,
observing his progress through glasses that moments before
he wiped with his napkin, and then to see him lift half
onto the extra plate that he had asked the server to bring,
and then to wait, offering the plate to his wife
while she slowly unrolls her napkin and places her spoon,
her knife and her fork in their proper places,
then smoothes the starched white napkin over her knees
and meets his eyes and holds out both old hands to him.

From Valentines, by Ted Kooser, by permission of the University of Nebraska Press. ©2008 Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska. Available wherever books are sold or from the University of Nebraska Press; call to order at 800-755-1105, or order online.