Ode to Last Flight

August 9, 2022 / Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 18 Comments

Ode to Last Flight

Don’t think we don’t appreciate
the fare that’s offered. We do
queue up from time to time,
but food trucks really aren’t
our thing. We’re here for the beer,
and you do know how to brew.
Few craft brewers bother
to have a dark beer on tap,
favoring IPAs, but your selection
is the best. It’s about time
we had a quality brewery in town,
so your fare is just fine with me.
We’ll take a flight of your finest.

This is my response Poetics: At the restaurant…,
the prompt from Merril at dVerse ~ Poets Pub.

Pieter Caspersen van Naerden [1600-1664]

June 10, 2020June 13, 2020 / Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 22 Comments

Pieter Caspersen van Naerden [1600-1664]

In your world,
where Amsterdam was New,
would I have known you?
We are not all that different.

Horsepower hauled my loads,
it’s true, but it would seem
alien to you, with oxen
drawing your wagon of spirits.

I never delivered beer,
but I’ve enjoyed drinking it.
Did you quaff a pint or two of ale
after a hard day’s work?

Your beer served warmer than lagers
and ales of today, had you seen
another fifty years you might have
enjoyed a porter or a stout, my favorites.

Across ten generations,
from one teamster to another,
here’s to you,
Pieter Caspersen van Naerden.

This poem is my response to Poetics: Back to Life, from Laura at dVerse Poets Pub, with the prompt to write a poem by reconstituting a dead person, one that is unknown to us, neither family nor famous. I’ve taken the liberty of choosing someone who may, or may not, be from my family tree. I’ve yet to confirm that.

tasty tropics brew

January 6, 2018 / Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 10 Comments

Mother’s Brewing Company is a craft brewer in Springfield, Missouri. On its Facebook page, Mother’s offered a free 4-pack to the writer of the best haiku about its new Coconut Stout.

tasty tropics brew

tasty tropics brew
coconut in the backyard
Mother’s Extra Stout

malt with coconut
something extra in this stout
from Mother’s Backyard

tropics in Springfield
coconut without a shell
Mother’s tasty brew

extra stout goes nuts
tasty coconut flavor
Mother’s new Backyard

brewing extra stout
with flavor of coconut
Backyard series win

Competition was pretty stiff, so I did not win the 4-pack of Coconut Stout. Obviously, the direct approach was what was desired:

I need a good beer
A coconut stout will do
Hope I win this shit

(As a side note, the Backyard Series of special releases is a nod to the Backyard, an outdoor seating/recreation/festival area at Mother’s tasting room.)

Mother’s Backyard (image by Mother’s Brewing Company)

Fermentation, and Lessons Learned

July 23, 2017 / Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 8 Comments

Fermentation, and Lessons Learned

Fermentation, and Lessons Learned

A bottled life and selective
capacity. How to fill?
Will yeast stay

at the bottom? What floats,
and do we dare
skim the surface, or do we

take a long draft?
Given the opportunity,
age will lend character.

Inspired by a comment by Robert Okaji, on end of daily toil, who said, “It’s not the thought of aging that bothers me, but rather the fact that there’s so much I want to learn and do, and so little time for it. Oh, wasted youth! 🙂”

What’s a Little Rain?

May 2, 2017 / Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 17 Comments

What’s a Little Rain?

April festival,
water flowing
from clouds, tents

and umbrellas turned
inside out. Tiny rivers
flowing between the bricks

lead the way to mushrooms
and beer for
connoisseurs, micro-

breweries getting less
attention than home brewers.
Dedication to their craft

appreciated as much as
the true star of the day, offered
fresh, fried and souped.

A day of wet rewards: beer
savored, and flavor found in
the labyrinth of a morel.

This is a work in progress. I can see myself coming back. (to both poem and festival)

Morel mushrooms are found only in spring, for a very short period.

sunflower reaches

October 10, 2016October 10, 2016 / Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 19 Comments

The prompt for Carpe Diem Full Circle #1 – 2016 is to use 12 words that are provided, by placing them in successive lines in four haiku. The words are:

Summer Sunshine, by Thelma Winter

1. rainbow
2. autumn
3. seagull
4. crane
5. cherry blossom
6. love
7. sunflower
8. blue sky
9. clouds
10. butterfly
11. nectar
12. beer

rainbow in the mist
compliments autumn’s colors
both frame a seagull

crane ruffles feathers
cherry blossoms slowly sway
scent of love stirs all

sunflower reaches
blue sky welcomes upturned face
distant clouds recede

watching butterfly
tasting sweet flower’s nectar
while savoring beer

Carpe Diem Full Circle_logo.jpg

Old New Favorites

August 30, 2016 / Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 3 Comments

Ah, the choices!
Something familiar?
Something new?
Opt for both.

New doesn’t have to be strange,
if it’s this year’s version of
a favorite small batch brew.
But then, sometimes it is.

Take pumpkin beers.
Some years, you’ve had favorites that
would have been better off left in the keg.
They may have been fresh,
but they sure didn’t taste like it.

Southern Tier’s Pumking never fails, but
it’s not on our shelves yet, so…
go for your standby, a porter or a stout.
You may not have a tender palette,
but you you sure prefer those over an IPA.

Sold.
Bourbon Barrel Aged Dark Matter it is!

The five word prompts for The Secret Keeper’s Weekly Writing Prompt #52 are open, strange, taste, fresh and tender.