MUENSTER MUSINGS
by Felix Jimenez

Forlorn and sliced,
caged by the smell,
Muenster muses as he fuses
knife and death:
My friend Ricotta
Always said: "Beware
the noses of your friends."
Ricotta's gone, and so is
Brie, he who did everything for me.
I stand alone, my sweetheart Cheddar
bid me adieu; I'll just forget her.
The fridge is cold, I've no protection
A plastic bag is mere abjection
And as I search to pass the time
With seedless grapes to warm my side
I think of you, fair Roquefort,
your halitosis made me strong.
You did not die, you persevered
(I think they threw you to the bin)
At least you did not die the death
Accorded to your milky friends
Who day and night ask for your forgiveness
And end in molars, shredded, listless.


UNTITLED
by John Reel

As the cheese on the hamburger festers in the afternoon sun,
the ultraviolet rays cause the cheese to permeate the bun.
As the unsuspecting diner engulfs the last bite,
The cheese that turned rancid,
makes his esophagus constrict and his tummy tight.
The diner keels over without even a breath
and his head reverberates off the table to finalize his death.
The moral of the story, if you please
is do not eat rancid cheese.


TO CHEESES (HARD AND SEMI -HARD)
by Mario Belaval

You lay yourselves
poised for the final cut,
our selfish tongues
to be satisfied by the slices
of your demise.


UNTITLED
anonymous submission
I arrive as just another
spaghetti (and cheese) eating robot.
Unable to fathom the complex issues fo my new home,
I often become irate.
I act out my frustration with
socially unacceptable behaviour. (cheese throwing)
Fortunately, I am a member of a powerful and wealthy nation,
committed to every citizen's quest for fulfillment
and merchandise. (cheese)
I begin to untangle myself
from the chaotic web of life.
"Ignorance is not bliss...
ignorance is genocide." (life without cheese)
Finally, I am able to see pattern
where before there was muck.
Complex issues crystallize
into concise, easy to digest
breakfast cereal. (cheese)
A new world of comfort (fresh cheese)
and perception opens to me.
I am a success.


THE CANON AND THE CAN
by Alison Dellenbaugh
In the market stands a wall of cheese,
Imposing in its solidarity.
Muenster, Feta, Roquefort form a frieze,
With ev'ry canonized variety.
The Gouda, sitting haughty on the shelf,
Framed strikingly by Camembert and Brie,
Taunts me as I stand there by myself,
An outcast, as my favored cheese must be.
For I am not a member of the clan
Who buys these lauded cheeses, these elite;
Who shuns the cheese that squirts out of a can,
The cheese that's shelved in exile near canned meat.
And as the forlorn spray cheese stands alone,
So I, who humbly claim it as my own.


UNTITLED
by Douglas Zehr
Sometimes in the morning
I feel like a cheddar
And I long to lie
Amongst the Colbys and Swiss
In the cheese bin
at the Pueblo Supermarket

And I would hang out there
with my brethern dairy products
and would grow sad
as some of my friends began to smell bad
and were carted away
and tossed
in the trash bin
at the Pueblo Supermarket


SNACK
by Chris Finch
steel plunges down
supple amber flesh
the gentle sacrifice
shaking and dying
for my sustenance
how many times, how many times


CHEESE
by Ed Darrin
It is what tastes good.
It comes in little logs at Christmas.
But it binds me up.

Cheese


ODE TO CHEESE
by Gerardo Casanova
Oh! Cheese...
You fatty one
Either cheddar, Blue or Swiss
Clog my arteries,
if you must
But still let me taste you,
Before it does
Oh! Cheese...
The spreading kind, On my cracker, bagel or Ritz
Either from ball, jar or can.
Hike up my cholesterol
if you must,
there will be no other unsaturated fat that I trust,
Oh! Cheese...
kill me if you want
I'll keep having you
any time I want.


ODE TO A GRECIAN CHEESE
by Tanya Grace Reyes
Nothing is better
Than to sit around in my greasy
brown paisley robe
Eating Feta

Through the dark halls I stumble
at midnight
with sharp pangs
For one miserable crumble

For a speck I am vulture
cruising kitchen
surveying cafe
Just to swallow this culture


UNTITLED
by Barbara Tasch Ezratty
I love a burger, lightly done,
with pinkened juices flowing,
And dressed with onions (cut in rings),
on buns with sesame seeds showing.
But save me from a burger with cheese,
tho it may seem grandioser,
I don't like cheese in any form:
and on a burger it becomes unkosher.


PROVOLONE
by Kyle Whelliston
Oh, Provolone, how I do ever love thee!
Thy creamy flesh and hot rind intoxicate me.
I recall the times we dallied about, singing
Or spent nights at the fire, laughing,
But as the date on your back approaches, I cry,
"What cruel fate is this, my love's death is nigh!"
I cradle, touch and kiss thee in our final hour,
Now, sobbing, I cut thee open and devour.


CHEESE HAIKU
by Leonard Weller
Cheese like a river flowing
Down asparagus
My heart leaps with gratitude


RIPP THEE CHEESE
by C.S. Ransom
RIPP THEE CHEESE
RIPP THEE CHEESE
SPEAK NO MORE
TIRADES
CHEESE
RIPPED INTO
TIRADES
RIPPED BY THEE
CHEESE


CHEESE WHIZ MAN
by John Marino
I'm a Cheese Whiz man
I like to suck it from a can


UNTITLED
by Nat Wales
Roses are red
Violets are blue
I eat cheese
Do you swim?


SHAMELESS ATTEMPT TO OBTAIN A COOL CHEESENET STICKER
by Cesar Lorenzetti
I like to put cheese in my pants
And then I do the crazy cheese dance
The heat it builds and so melts the cheese
It trickles down, down to my knees
But I must dance and dance some more
Until the cheese reaches the floor
For then I slip and break my neck
One more time? What the heck!


CHEESE
by James Healy
Cheese on pizza
Cheese on popcorn
Cheese on fries
Cheese, cheese, cheese,
I love cheese.
I sing onto thee
O cheese of cheese
For thou dost fulfill my tastebuds
And cleanse my tortured soul.


HAIKU FOR STILTON
by Michael C. Cukan
contaminants' love:
green fingertips trace rivers;
silent odes recite