Open AccessAsparapocalypse
Author(s) -
Terry Trowbridge
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
canadian journal of family and youth
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1718-9748
DOI - 10.29173/cjfy29010
Subject(s) - poetry , shadow (psychology) , joke , monster , art , cliché , slang , literature , style (visual arts) , aesthetics , psychology , advertising , psychoanalysis , philosophy , linguistics , business
The poem imagines a cliché conflict between a parent and a child over eating asparagus. It capitalizes on the idea of telling a kid they can't leave the table until they try a bite of yucky food. It takes a twee turn toward the genre of horror by making allusions to the catacombs beneath Egyptian pyramids. The poem attempts to be either a vague monster movie shadow, or a Sesame Street style joke. As parents, we've all tried to walk an edgy-cute line, making allusions but staying creatively fun, even while exasperated.