Fun and Games
Calling All Carrots, Root for Rutabagas
Out of the cellars, into the limelight
Now make no mistake about this folks, I am serious. I want to have a heart to heart talk with celeries and artichokes, just as soon as I get done with you carrots here. So listen up, green-haired orange guys.
It’s come to my attention that you long, lean rooties are getting all the media notoriety. Mostly you carrots… you’re getting cast in all the juicy roles, mixed in all the great stews, and grated maliciously by your grateful fans. You go just as well in salads and crudités as you do cooked.
Your versatility is universally utilized and admired. But you’re leaving your round root cousins in the root cellar. You’re ignoring, especially the turnips and rutabagas, who are your sisters and your brothers. Underneath the topsoil, y’all are from the same heritage. So get over your badass selves and lend a hand.
If a turnip wants a turn, don’t be bitter. There’s something to be said for getting mashed up and drenched with butter. Step aside carrots and allow things to happen that don’t revolve around you.
Keep in mind, there’s a lockdown going on and folks can’t get to the store as often. They have to make do with ingredients on hand.
The same goes for rutabagas.
They might enjoy a dip in some nice ratatouille or a parsimonious pate. Oh, pardon me, that was the parsnip that might enjoy a parsimonious pate. I get some of you guys mixed up. Since I am colorblind, y’all look alike. Carrot smarrot, turnip smurnip.
Years ago wasn’t there a Frank Zappa song about rutabagas? Actually, it was called Call Any Vegetable and he did. He called rutabegas, with a lovely yodel, which is why you should stop and take a listen right here and now. Keep in mind, folks, you don’t hear many songs about carrots or turnips….
Plant a radish, get a radish, now that was a great song from a great show…The Fantastiks. Where else have you seen children compared to vegetables and come in second place?
Radishes are your rad baby cousins, remember? Family loyalty is important in the vegetable kingdom. Try to remember that time in September when we want to see that fantastik show. Both carrots and turnips are mentioned!
And try to lift up your rootie friends in song and story, kinda like I am doing here. And you thought the carrot was going to be the hero. Just cause he got a prompt of his own, does not a hero make. We can’t let that go to his head or they might start calling him carrot top.
So all I am saying is give the other roots a chance. Root, root, root for the whole team, not just the ones in the limelight. You’re not a lime anyway, so remember that. For once, let the turnips and rooties have their day in the soup without stewing about it, okay?
Also, keep in mind, we can’t subsist on a diet of carrots alone. Our pigment will turn orange, and that’s not a pretty sight. At least not in the current political milieu. And trust me, the current political milieu is not a scene for haughty, self-centered, egotistical orange-ass vegetables. It has enough of them already…’Nuff said!
This vegetative meditative was inspired if that’s the right word by Susan Brearley’s prompt which you can read right here:
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Marilyn Flower’s a sacred fool who writes every day — fiction, poetry, and blogs — inspired by a process called SoulCollage®. She’s the author of Creative Blogging and Bucket Listers: Get Your Brave On. Follow her Sacred Foolishness or SoulCollage® for Writers, and Stay in touch!
