Cottage Cheese.

For the past few weeks, I've eaten cottage cheese every day, sometimes twice a day.  As a child I wouldn't try the stuff.  I'm not sure what's happened, but I'm obsessed with it.  And string cheese.  And Brie.  And Mozzarella.  And Half and Half.  And sharp Cheddar.

Explanation?  For the past four years, I've drank coffee black.  And sometime between the summer I counseled at camp and my freshman year of college, milk became the digestive devil within my body.  Being a native Wisconsinite, losing the ability to eat excessive amounts of dairy was tragic.  But I never gave up ice-cream; that was worth every stomach ache, and there are some things a girl cannot do...

I'm not sure what's changed, but I can eat dairy again!  It's the best thing ever!  Drinking milk is still a no-go, but I'll take what I can get.  To celebrate I've composed poetry.  Enjoy it; this occurs infrequently.  And may the world know that this is my first creative attempt since my advanced Poetry workshop in college (I'm not sure what this says about my degree or the major I chose).  Dr. Woodruff, please forgive me?  May these lines make you smile in heaven, and please don't compare me to Billy Collins (or even yourself), because I'll never be quite that good.

Cheese Haikus

Cheese, your smoothness spreads

and melts on the tongue's palate-

A sure digestive pleasure.

Edible with wine.

independent temptation.

Be all the above.

Wisconsin's pride

California's big steal

I claim you surely.

Okay.  I lost it.  And when you write and lose it, you stop right then and there.