Does breakfast make a universal theme?
Is the smell of toast too sentimental?
Is one man’s milk just another man’s cream?
Is it all too light and continental?
Does breakfast brew the day with full intense?
What substance from its richness can be drawn?
What crescendo, what marvel, what essence?
What potential, what message does it spawn?
Does breakfast have the fibre, the backbone,
the spine, the fundamental fortitude
to steady the course of a rolling stone;
to sculpt the shape of this day’s attitude?
. More so than any meal, let breakfast shine,
. let it feed the spirit and brace the spine.

© Tim Grace, 7 October 2011

To the reader: Breakfast is an event as much as it is sustenance. For those who rush the day’s first meal they miss the ritual. The breakfast-room is an old-fashioned concept with enough merit to still exist in the hotel industry. Standards and price differ greatly but in general there are three options: tea & toast; continental; and the full banquet. The occasional ‘big breakfast’ might be warranted but for a poet’s purpose tea & toast is more than sufficient.

To the poet: Editing poetry requires a thoughtful space, somewhere comfortable and reflective. Re-drafting ‘on the go’ runs the risk of demolishing the poem’s original essence. This sonnet (not a good example) required considerable re-working to pull it into shape. As part of a long sequence it will have to hold its place but it’s hardly delivering the morning-reader much nourishing sustenance; for that I apologise.

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