for Penny
When chemo’s done, I’ll drink a sea
of whole untreated milk in tea.
I’ll eat a Ferris wheel of Brie,
but you can keep the kimchi.
I’ll feast on oysters, meat done rare,
eat frites with moules marinières,
break bread in molten Camembert,
but you can keep the kimchi.
I’ll wolf down Wiltshire ham for two,
quaff casks of home-made scrumpy brew,
scoff sourdough toast with Danish Blue,
but you can keep the kimchi.
Bring cockles, mussels live-alive-o!
Eggs Benedict would fill a hole
or licking out the mixing bowl
then gorging on a Gorgonzol-
a—you can keep the kimchi.
Salami, sushi, scallops, clam,
smoked salmon, mayo, mousse, meringue,
prosciutto, pâté, Parmesan,
just
kindly keep the kimchi!
A friend of mine recently started chemo. After she bemoaned the need to abstain from various foodstuffs she enjoys (especially soft cheese, but emphatically not kimchi) I wrote her this poem.
Please share with anyone you think this might help.
It was a real surprise to see what’s on the list (or rather lists, as they vary NHS Trust by NHS Trust) of foods to avoid, such as Seville oranges and grapefruit (which got its own poem). Other foods that made it in to an earlier version but got taken out again: kefir, goat cheese, Stilton, Roquefort, and (I may have made this up) pro-biotic spam.