Poetry + Ice Cream: A Sweet Partnership
We've partnered with Baltimore's beloved ice cream shop, The Charmery in Hampden, to bring you our favorite combo: poetry and ice cream! Our editors loved all of the sweet submissions, and selected “Ode to Coffee Ice Cream” by Adam, Grade 8 as our contest winner! Check out the honorable mentions below.
Our poets collaborated with owner and master creamer of The Charmery, David Alima, to create a very CHARM-ing new flavor.
"Lolo’s Coffee and Tamarind Peanuts” is available NOW for a limited time, and sales of it will benefit CHARM! If you grab a pint, you’ll get your very own copy of the winning poem, featured below.
Ode to Coffee Ice Cream
By Adam, Grade 8
The flavor I’ve known
for my whole life
because of my family.
Coffee makes you wake up,
but coffee ice cream for me
was meant for ending the day.
Those summer nights
with my cousins
and my grandparents
always went quick,
but when they ended
coffee ice cream was there.
My Lolo passed
his love for the flavor
to my dad and aunts and uncles,
then to me, my sisters, and cousins.
Lolo would sit in his chair with my Mamala
and his old wrinkled hands
making all 9 kids bowls
laughing, smiling, joking
with us until we were too tired
to keep playing.
Conversation around the table
with bowls in hand,
the spoon always full,
my soul always happy.
The flavor was never important.
No, it was the memories made
with that flavor,
and that's why
when I go out,
even though
there are so many flavors,
I always get coffee ice cream.
I get it to remember
those summer nights
with my Lolo.
SHARE YOUR #CHARMEMORY WITH US!
Adam’s poem—and several others included below—talk about special memories involving ice cream. We want YOU to join the conversation. Do you remember the first time you had ice cream as a kid? Running back home from the brutal summer sun and reaching for the coolness of the freezer—just for that one cup of ice cream spared from your siblings' rampage? Send us your favorite ice cream memory.
Anonymous submissions can be sent to submissions@charmlitmag.org
Public submissions can be posted on Instagram or Twitter with the hashtag #CHARMemory. Don't forget to tag @charmlitmag.
All are welcome to join in!
Store Run
By Erin, Grade 5
Ice cream ice cream flowing through my bloodstream
Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry, Cookies & Cream
Ice cream ice cream in a bowl
Ice cream ice cream nice & cold
One scoop, two scoops, Three scoops more
Will you drop your waffle cone walking from the store?
Can’t wait for my birthday, I’m having ice cream and cake
Put it together to make an ice cream shake
Flavors
By Amirah, Grade 1
F-ruits
L-emon
A-pple
V-anilla
O-reo
R-aspberry
S-ome of my favorite ice cream!
That Delicious Flavor
By: Dayanna, Grade 6
I am as bright as a sunbeam
Which makes me daydream
I have many tasty flavors
That one day I would love to savor
For once I would love to taste that
deliciousness
Those flavors that are limitless
I am the best thing that you could eat
in a hot sunny day
You could even eat me every single day
Just be careful with the bees
Also don't eat too much of me or you will
get a brain freeze
And for what I am I would love to scream
I am an ice cream
Summer Treat
By Jane, Grade 7
When the clock hit 12:00,
I jumped out of my seat
To run out the school
And get a small treat
$5 for my worries
But those had fled
When an ice cream cone was held above my head
Not worried how it would run
Because I would gobble it up
Before the sun could even try
A delicious waffle cone, no not a cup
Pistachio, strawberry, and rocky road
I could never, they tasted like a toad
Mint-chocolate-chip and cookies and cream
I didn't like those, they made me scream
So maybe I'll go plain, and scoop some Vanilla
The flavors color as white as a Greek villa
But above all, even the richest of chocolate lies my favorite
And that was salted caramel
Do Narwhals like ice cream?
By: Ryan, Gian Carlo, Devin, Chase, Ayrton, Marlon, Gabe
Students at Baltimore Montessori Public Charter
Do Narwhals like ice cream?
Maybe they like it with marshmallows
like me
Would they like it in a big waffle cone
Or between two cookies
like me
Would they stack their scoops on their tusks
Licking it when it drips
Like me
I wonder if they like alternating flavors
First chocolate chip mint then Carmel
Like me
If they have a 12 inch tusk, it could
Hold a lot of scoops for them
And me
I think I’ll make myself a friend
We’ll hang out, Narwhal
And me.
An Ode to Ice Cream
By Charlie, Grade 7
Ice cream
A delicious
Frozen
Sweet treat
It’s always a
Pleasure
When I can
Have seconds
After dinner
But sometimes
It melts
And
Falls apart
It gets all
Sticky and
Messy
Life is like that
Too
Life falls apart,
Life can be messy
And it doesn’t always
Get back to normal
So easily
But at the end
Of the day
Even after the
Mess
Ice cream is still
Sweet
And delicious
Life may be sticky
Sometimes
But never forget
Like ice cream,
The sweetness is
Still inside.
