by Bruce Bennett

“I avoid macaroni salad at cookouts and picnics…
I avoid it even though I love the idea of macaroni salad:
a glossy, substantial side dish…”
—The New York Times, “What to Cook This Weekend”

It’s “gloopy” and always too sweet,
So it isn’t a dish that I eat.
Yet served on the side,
That I more than abide:
The idea I regard as a treat.

The same thing is true, I have found,
With people. My love is quite sound
And usually serves.
Still, they get on my nerves,
And I’d rather not have them around.