That certainly was a factor in choosing the title. I like playing with classic poetic forms, especially haiku, but I try to cut through flowery words to get to the heart of a thought or emotion.

I also really like playing peekaboo with my readers, giving them something to think about, or a surprise. I apply that in a lot of areas of writing, and I like having a part that sneaks up on you, whether it is an ending that turns the title on its head, or a line in the poem that could have more than one meaning, and depending on which meaning you choose, the poem will have a very different tone. It is always funny to see people on completely different veins in a comment thread, because they took the interpretation that most fits their life.

I published a poem on my blog in May, under the title of “My Affair.” Some family members and friends still haven’t read it because they don’t think I should be exposing personal parts of my life. My mom hasn’t let them in on the ending, so it is still the post with the least page views on my blog. The instant classic “An Ode to My Knees,” has more page views.

Without the onion allergy I probably would have come up with a blog name like, Cartwheels in the Snow, Breastfeeding for Dummies, or High Calorie Celery. All slightly opaque, but a piece of me.

Julia
poetrysansonions.blogspot.com

Ardis, haven’t we met Jinny before somewhere?

You didn’t find this story just for me did you?

The name of my blog, poetrysansonions, comes because I have an onion allergy and I am used to asking for everything sans onions. It is such a pervasive part of prepared foods in the US, I have learned to make soups, sauces, and almost anything that would normally use pre-made stock.

I love that this is from 1956, twenty years before I was born! (Take that all you people who made me sick by trying to “hide” the onion in something, until I started throwing up. Onions allergies are not some “hip” disease of choice. ;-p )

I used to live in a stake where there were three of us with full blown onion allergies, as well as three or four others who had a stronge sensitivity to them. Whenever there was a stake potluck, we would check in with each other to see who was going to bring what, so that we could all have something “safe” to eat. We always made sure to put “No Onions, Do NOT Use Serving Spoons From Other Dishes!” and made sure that the serving spoons for our dishes had colored tape around the handle so it was obvious that they ony went with the sans onions dishes.

I can’t count the number of people who have said, “no one is allergic to onions,” or “you must not like them, but that isn’t an allergy.” The rash on my hands when I get a skin exposure, or the vomiting, rash and migraine that comes when I ingest onions has always left little question for me. I have never been in an area where that is the only crop being grown, but I suspect my face (maybe even my lungs?) would react very similarly to Cathy’s.

I would love to have an original of the story, or at least a photocopy. Is there a particular place to look for originals? Am I looking for a magazine in the sense we mean it today, or were they more like short anthologies, in book form?

I would so love to be able to give copies of this to several of my other friends who have onion allergies. Wonder if anyone has a stash of ten or so. Hmmmm…….

Ardis, PLEASE will you guest post this on my blog? (Puppy dog eyes and imploring face – engaged.)