Laura Daniels
Laura Daniels is a multi-genre writer and founder of the Facebook blog The Fringe 999 https://www.facebook.com/groups/399191694738673 and @thefringe999. She is curated in Visible Ink Anthology, New Jersey Bards Anthology, Wingless Dreamer Dulce Poetica Anthology, Silver Birch Press, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, and elsewhere. She is an active member of Women Who Write and is working on her first poetry collection. Her poems grow from a love of learning and New Jersey, where she lives with her partner in Mt Arlington.
Taylor pork roll Ham
It’s easy to tell what part of Jersey you’re
from by the way you refer to this salty
processed, fried breakfast meat —
Answer: Taylor Ham
there’s a 99.9% chance you’re from North Jersey
where you learned its proper name by studying
diner breakfast menus.
Answer: pork roll
there's a good chance you grew up in South Jersey
where you were heavily influenced by wrongly
informed Philadelphians.
— as someone from North Jersey
I prefer to use its proper nomenclature
because Taylor Ham is to pork roll
as Kleenex is to tissues and Pepsi is to cola.
I guess people from South Jersey ask for an adhesive strip
instead of a Band-Aid when they cut their finger?
There’s lots of turmoil with those who live south
of Middletown, the Mason-Dixon line of Jersey.
Culinary warfare persists in the Garden State
fueled by Jerseyans’ tussle over the correct
title for Trenton’s fine swine delicacy.
Waitressing
Bayway Avenue separated
me from ninth grade
Roosevelt Middle School
& the Bayway Diner
I changed after school
in the diner bathroom
into my gold polyester uniform
abracadabra, out came a waitress
Truck drivers from NJ Turnpike
idled their trucks in the parking lot
& sat for hours, drinking coffee,
making small talk
Midwest truckers tipped best
Southern truckers smooth-talked
this (lousy) quarter is for you
I smiled & kept pouring
Somehow schoolwork got done
& the money earned was used
to buy a half-share in my sister's car
I was too young to drive