Food For Thought

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Travel to another place

Join in the race

To a distant world found

Taken by a traveler bound

En route to riches of the mind

What wonder you will find

Passage is on call

A ticket is a free for all

The cost is merely imagination

To join the fraternization

Privy to the confines

Of a meeting of the minds

This place I know

You should go

It’s worth a second look

To simply read book

Reading takes its’ toll

To nourish your soul

Feed on a literary menu

Complimentary banquet awaits you

Books you have sought

Provide you food for thought

Be part of the literary elite

Read on – Bon Appetite!

Susan Marie Davniero

LONG ISLAND LIBRARIES AN INSPIRATIONAL RESOURCE

Published:  Newsday November 14, 2008

I agree with your article ["Life-Changing Books," Nov. 8], that books certainly can be life-changing. Some books can be priceless at your neighborhood library!

A library card affords entrance to a world of books you can borrow at no charge. Given the trying times today, when everything has a price, why not try out something for free? Why buy what you can rent? And if one book can be life-changing - imagine what hundreds of books at the library can be!

Opening the door to the library is like pulling the ribbon off a gift. All of your unanswered questions can be passed back to the library shelves to be answered there, among the warehouse of knowledge.

Entering the library, I am prodded back into the lost years of school, where the library was on my weekly curriculum in chapter one. In chapter two, I rediscover the lost find, browsing amid the corridors of books, each book holding the power of words in my hands.

Turning each page to learn of admirable women (Mother Teresa, Hillary Clinton), powerful men (Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower), defining wars (Civil, World War II), and varied renowned authors (Maya Angelou, Gloria Steinem). I was in good company. I was pining to read more; merely reading the newspapers wasn't enough anymore.

Reading books inspired me to write more (letters, essays, poems). I was now partnered with newly acquainted knowledge to fill my words and end my sentences. I can even do my typing at the library on the computers there. Reportedly, the American Library Association's statistics cite an increasing percentage of library visitors.

I can be added to the roster of new visitors. I wondered now, why did I ever leave? I am back where I started.

Life is a full circle after all.

My library serves delicacies from its menu of books, periodicals and computers. A place where I can "eat my words." The "meals" are free. A complimentary all-you-can-eat buffet awaits you. Serve yourself and take it home. Literally, the library is food for thought.

Susan Marie Davniero

http://www.newsday.com/business/retirement/long-island-libraries-an-inspirational-resource-1.884958

PS: FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Essentially, how can one justify the contradictory carnivorous diet when one loves their pets? The words and deeds are at odds. Alas, most people are untroubled by the paradox in their meat diets.

To question what extent does one animal pet’s life differentiates from another on their plate. A vegetarian diet is a healthy alternative on the menu.  Don’t knock it till you tried it – one day a doctor may suggest a vegetarian diet and you may just eat your words.

If only animal lovers can switch to a vegetarian diet they can save the animals they love. Essentially, eat to live, not live to eat. 

  
Susan Marie Davniero

BLESSING OF THE ANIMALS

It would truly be a blessed day for the animals on the traditional “Blessing of the Animals” if only all animal lovers became vegetarians. Alas, sometimes the carnivorous animal lover can be labeled a hypocrite professing their love of their pets; while eating other animals. To what extent does one animal life differentiate from another?

To question how can one justify the contradictory inconsistency. Our words and our deeds are often at odds. Most people are untroubled by the contradictions in their attitudes about animals. Their appetites and love of eating meat is a precursor to their love of animals. Essentially, people want to eat meat no matter what the cost.       

If we love our animals why then must our animals be the proverbial sacrificial lamb of our meals? We have pets in the house, and cows on our plate. Being a vegetarian and an animal lover myself I just don’t get it.   

Food for thought –a vegetarian diet is a healthy alternative on the menu.  Studies indicate that a vegetarian diet is attributed to good health and an aid in the transition for the inevitable onset of aging.  Don’t knock it till you tried it - you may just eat your words one day.

Blessed is the person with a deeper sense of our co-existence with animals for the greater good. That day, when the world is all vegetarians, will truly be a Blessing of the Animals. 

Susan Marie Davniero

LONG STORY SHORT

 

SUSAN MARIE DAVNIERO poet listed in "The Poet's Market 

 

COOKING UP WISHES

by Susan Marie Davniero

My cooking days from the past

Learning basics in Homemaking class

When I was a high school cook 

Cooking family dinners when Mom would work

Assistant Manager at the bank

At home I was Mom's assistant cook 

With each of the family dishes

I was cooking up wishes

Pitch of love, a kiss of this

All went into the loving mix

Recipe’s a taste from the past 

Season with a lot of love to last 

Nowadays when my family comes over

I serve the past recipe leftovers