Without a doubt food and poetry have been enduring passions for me. Both pursuits involve making and creating. I therefore felt quite blessed to be gifted the book, 'Eat This Poem' by dear friends who know me well. It is such perfect matching of reader and interest. 'Eat This Poem- A Literary Feast of Recipes Inspired By Poetry'  by Nicole Gulotta contains 25 poems and seventy five recipes that deliver rich words to the kitchen. The book allows the reader to access poetry while offering strong connections to the food we prepare and share. The poem I have chosen to share is the final poem in the book, 'How to Eat A Poem' by Eve Merriam.  The poem is a metaphor for life. Don't wait, bite in and enjoy life's abundant pleasures. Couldn't agree more. How To Eat A Poem Don’t be polite. Bite in. Pick it up with your fingers and lick the juice that may run down your chin. It is ready and ripe now, whenever you are. You do not need a knife or fork or spoon ...

  Dealing With Double Trouble! The very mention this week of tautology in a conversation sparked a memory of how annoying it is to hear such redundancy, used so frequently, and so unwittingly.  Here are a few that immediately come to mind: At the present time Very unique Mystery puzzle Wet monsoon Past history Pair of twins Free gift Sad misfortune Invited guests End result Boat marina Will and testament ATM machine I'm sure you get the idea… Tautology occurs everywhere. While living in  America some years back , the frequently used term, ‘TUNA FISH sandwich’ left me constantly bemused.  At JFK airport, I would sit waiting for my flight home to  Australia  and at regular intervals I would hear the announcement, ‘ This is the LAST and FINAL call for flight…’   and start twitching.  In Australia, I frequently hear people offering an opinion and qualifying it with, ‘If you ask ME PERSONALLY, well I think…’ and I’m sure we don’t need to hear FINA...