Poetry Connection | Connecting with Family Friends at Thanksgiving

The year 2025 marks another quarter of a century without my mother at Thanksgiving. She would have been 76 this year. I was happy to have spent the holiday with her best friends, Mary Rose and Eddie, and their son and grandson. I knew that Mary Rose’s grandson needed help with his homework assignment — an ode on any subject — because I had heard about this assignment from Mary Rose a few days before, when she telephoned to ask if I could explain what an ode is to her grandson, Moctezuma. I was more than willing to help. After all, Mary Rose had helped me with my English homework when I was in high school. I recall the frantic phone calls when I had spent too much time procrastinating on an English essay. Mary Rose was great at calming me down and letting me know that I could get the assignment done in time. Sometimes, it is easier to get advice from someone who is not immediately related to you.

Moctezuma already had a pretty good idea of what an ode was. We talked about its Greek origins and how the form is a praise poem that can be on any subject. He chose his favorite food: guacamole. Over the phone, I prompted him to do some free writing and jot down any words related to his subject, beginning with an avocado plant, to the fruit, to the making of the dish. I wanted him to have at least a page or two of notes so he wouldn’t come to the page or computer empty handed.

This is very much how I approach any kind of writing assignment. I always start with paper and a pen or pencil and simply write down ideas. On rare occasions, when I am on a very tight deadline and am offering a review or writing on a subject that I know very well, I will skip the free writing process. But it’s very comforting and makes any assignment more manageable to have ideas, words, and phrases that will make it into your final draft.

While we were waiting on the turkey, I asked to see Moctezuma’s ode and was surprised that he hadn’t written it. Although, given that I am a grand procrastinator, I understood that he had other things to do on his holiday. I watched as he pulled out his handwritten notes and found a quiet corner to write. From his quick draft, it was obvious he had been thinking about his poem over the past couple of days. Because he had a few pages of notes and ideas, the process of writing was quick and easy. It may have looked like procrastination, but his mind was doing the thinking and organizing in the background. I think we have another poet in the family.

We worked through three drafts of his ode before he pressed the send button and turned in his assignment online. I asked him if he was nervous working with me, but he said that my enthusiasm made him enjoy writing poetry. It was a special honor to tutor someone I’ve known since birth.

This week’s poem comes from 17-year-old Moctezuma Ortega, a senior at Franklin High School in Los Angeles. He enjoys cross country and track and field. This is his first published poem.

Ode to the Guacamole
by Moctezuma Ortega

Oh guacamole, how long I’ve waited
for your body to ripen
so you can be seasoned
and enlighten my body with nutrients

I await the day
that you age
from a grape-sized ball
to a plump oval fruit

split in two
reveal your yellowish-green inside
along with the core
a temporary separation

Its flesh I mash
until its texture becomes smooth 
not like the chunky puree preferred by my father,
whose nickname is Guacamole

next comes the lemon
its citrus flavor infuses
with the avocado mush

at last
I sprinkle in the spices
add the garlic salt
grandma Mary introduced me to

With the dip ready
I devour it with tortilla chips
the taste reminds me
of my favorite childhood restaurant
El Arco Iris