13 Ways to Eat a Chocolate Chip Cookie
When my poetry pal and fellow Slicer Molly Hogan posted a poetry prompt to write about “Cookies!!! Christmas cookies, sugar cookies or any sort of cookie,” I had to think for a bit. Like many of you, my family has many cookie traditions to choose from. In the end, I decided to stick with the cookie that’s been part of my memories forever, chocolate chip.
Once I settled on the kind of cookie, I had to come up with a form. I like to play with poems I’m working on in my head as I drive to work. This isn’t always a good idea because I have to actually pay attention to the other cars on the road! But, as sometimes happens, inspiration struck. Wallace Stevens “13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” popped into my head. There must be at least 13 ways to look at a chocolate chip cookie. Or, even better, of eating a chocolate chip cookie. So here you have it, my “13 Ways to Eat a Chocolate Chip Cookie.”
Raw*
Sugar dissolves on your tongue
Sweetness fills your mouth
The chocolate chips still crunch.
Warm
Eleven minutes of heat transform
Lumps of dough into a golden brown,
Gooey confection.
With a glass of cold milk
Break the cookie in half
Dunk one end into the milk,
The longer it’s submerged, the softer will be.
At Nana’s House
There is always a tray of my favorite treat
Waiting on the table by the kitchen door.
Nana serves me two cookies on a red and white plate.
In small pieces
Break the cookie into small bits around the chip.
Nibble slowly. The sweetness of the softened
Morsel explodes like a ripe blueberry.
With Breakfast
Instead of pancakes
Both have eggs and flour
Sometimes people add chocolate chips to pancakes.
Crispy
Let them cool completely
They will crunch when you bite down
And leave crumbs at the corner of your mouth.
After school
When I get home, I’m so hungry
Lunch was hours ago
Cookies ease my hunger pangs.
In two bites
This way your entire mouth
Can savor the flavor
But they’re gone faster.
Chewy
If you put a slice of bread
In the tin
Your cookies will become soft and chewy.
After sledding
While my cheeks are still cold
Cookies and hot cocoa
Warm me up in no time.
Before bed
A single cookie
Helps me forget my cares
And sweetens my dreams.
Anytime
Because chocolate chip cookies
make everything better and
Are the most delicious cookie ever!
* I know all about salmonella concerns, but some habits die hard
Draft © Catherine Flynn, 2019
Thank you to Stacey, Betsy, Beth, Kathleen, Deb, Kelsey, Melanie, and Lanny for creating this community and providing this space for teachers and others to share their stories every day in March and each Tuesday throughout the year. Be sure to visit Two Writing Teachers to read more Slice of Life posts.
Reading to the Core 
What a great format for this response! I love the rationalization in “With Breakfast” and the detail of those stray cookie crumbs around the mouth in “Crispy.” Once again, you’ve managed to efficiently combine posts. Kudos to you! Oh…and after writing this, did you feel compelled to make a batch of chocolate chip cookies?
LikeLike
I had to make the cookies while I was writing to make sure I had the details right! The sacrifices we make! 😉
LikeLike
I love the behind the scenes part of this. Amazing how saying 13 things about one thing can end up saying so much about us.
LikeLike
Fun way to approach cookie eating. There is no wrong way to eat a chocolate chip cookie. I still eat raw cookie dough, too.
LikeLike
When I saw this on Facebook and the wacky formatting of that platform, I hoped you would put it here. I love this structure and how we use every excuse to eat a cookie.
LikeLike
This is definitely going in the mentor stack. I would like to do chocolate chips as well. What else? I’ll be thinking about that on my drive to work tomorrow.
LikeLike
Your slice had my mouth watering and my heart melting. Food has such emotional ties for us and you certainly were able to tap into that with your beautiful poem!
LikeLike
I live this form and the poem! I am hungry now!
LikeLike
Love it. How you came up with 13…and then, of course, now I can imagine more:)
LikeLike
Love your 13 ways! My favorites are oatmeal raisin. Now you’ve got me thinking about 13 ways to enjoy them.
LikeLike
We’re getting ready to help my nephew make chocolate chip cookies. He chose this as his high school Spanish assignment. We’re going to help video him making the cookies while speaking Spanish. We’ve been making cookies with him since he was born.
I also love your rationalization. I personally like to freeze them, so I’m not tempted to eat them. I quickly learned that they’re still delicious frozen at 2:00 a.m. with an ice cold glass of milk.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yummmmy post. I’ll take the raw and warm please! I love this playful post. I might need to try it out this month. Thank you for your inspiration.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I really love any kind of cookie, but my absolute favorite is my mom’s gingerbread cookies. Perhaps I will write about the ways to eat them and the way they’re connected to my holiday memories. More stories about cookies, I say!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love this format! I like the number 13 too It reminds me of an Amber Sparks short story too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a delightful poem! As a certified cookie monster, I must look at Molly’s poetry prompt. Raw (I confess that I still eat raw cookie dough too.), Warm, and Before Bed were my favorites.
LikeLike