Expiration
By Lynn Norton, Air Force
Writing Type: Poem
By Lynn A. Norton
--Leawood, KS
My resolution for the new year: purge
pantry of expired products. Discard
five-year-old beans, ten-year-old condiments,
desiccated Halloween candy.
Some expiration predictions exceed
my life expectancy. Made me wonder,
where’s my expiration date, list of ingredients,
useful instructions? I’ve looked everywhere.
No dates, QR or bar codes, prompts
for handling, storage, disposal. No warnings
to reject if seal is broken. Sell by Friday,
consume or freeze by Monday.
Science claims all encoded in DNA.
Too cryptic for easy viewing. Better to
stroll through family cemeteries, read
stone labels, take notes, calculate averages.
The coroner will record my expiration date,
decode instructions written on remains. Fully
cooked, handle with care, contains peanuts,
refrigerate after opening, recycle.
