The Shopping List

Author’s Note:

A shopping list might seem like a simple thing, but it often carries all the small balances we try to keep in life — between what we want, what we need, and what we dream of. This poem is a lighthearted reflection of my own everyday choices, sprinkled with a bit of humor and honesty.

I hope you’ll recognize a little piece of yourself in it too.

The Poem: The Shopping List

In my own land, we lack no thing,

We buy whatever wealth may bring,

When coins and cash allow the fling.

On the List today, I'll write:

Meat —

I gladly eat

pig,

beef,

fish,

chick,

lamb —

The wilder kinds not quite as often,

My tender tongue must be soft-spoken.

I find it cruel, and deeply raw,

To shoot a bullet through a pretty doe,

Just to have her grace my plate —

No thanks, I'll kindly shut that gate.

Call it double moral if you dare,

But plants alone — I’m not quite there.

Still, a few swaps I have made,

For planet’s sake — and health upgrade —

A new path found into my plate.

Thus today the List must bear:

Oat milk — chocolate, if you care,

Plantgurt topped with blueberry,

And Naturli spread — that lovely dairy!

(Yes, Danish goods straight from the land,

I'm proud to buy what nature planned.)

And bread must find a place as well,

I won't survive on porridge — hell!

Yet gluten tends to make me ache,

So rye and seeds — just gulp and take!

We humans, too, must have a drink,

Coffee’s stocked — no need, I think.

But summer sun paints heated cheeks,

So something cold is what one seeks.

On the List: some juice, some soda,

Life must be lived — oh yes, no hold-a!

A sinful whisper fills my core:

A cake! — the tempter at my door.

That little voice that shouts, "Give in!"

"You've earned it, friend — just feed your sin!"

Thus — on the List: a cake or two.

Of course, I could bake something new:

Knead my dough and bake a treat —

Flour,

sugar,

baking powder,

margarine,

vanilla sweet,

eggs and milk.

(Check — just eggs must meet the List today.)

Then I’ll browse my cookbook for my prey!

On the List must also go

Food for dog and cat, you know.

Day and night, they stay my mates —

So cans and kibble fill their plates.

And cheese! Oh right — I almost forgot!

A wedge or two? Why not a lot?

Now, knowing myself as well as I do,

In the store, when I see something new,

It leaps from shelf into my cart —

Later at home, I sigh and start:

"That wasn't quite the cleverest art..."

My List, in truth, is just a draft,

My basket bursts and buckles aft!

But fear not, I’ll survive some days,

Fed and smiling in many ways.

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