Ode to a Hershey Bar (1992)

Ode to My Hershey's Chocolate Bar

Written for English class, 1992

I was at Revco
with three dollars and twenty six cents
and saw
the dark brown wrapper with
the shiny
silver
lettering
like a fixed set of stars
in the night sky
like a white neon sign
in the night sky
like the American flag,
only there were no
stars
or stripes
or red
or blue
but there was brown
and Hershey's was silver.
Two words magnified themselves to me.
The words were
Hershey's and
chocolate.
I had to look at the
chocolate.
The letters were so
perfectly written and
designed that I had to
run to it.
So I ran to it in elation
and picked up the
whole box of
two dozen
like it weighed
very little,
which it did.
I wanted this
chocolate.
I had a desire for this
chocolate.
I must have this
chocolate.
But I didn't have enough money for the
chocolate.
So I put back half the
chocolate.
Then I bought the twelve remaining bars of
chocolate.
(They were on sale)
After I paid
the short lady
at the counter,
I left the store.
My heart beat fast,
My mouth salivated,
My stomach waited anxiously for
the one bite of
chocolate.
I held out a bar in my hand
and looked at the wrapper.
It was like a house
only there was one room
and aluminum foil
and no garage
and of course no bathroom.
Still, I wanted this
chocolate.
I was overcome with
absolute desire for this
chocolate.
I tore open the
brown wrapper like
a savage beast tears
the skin off its prey,
which was what I was doing.
I broke off half the
bar and shoveled it
into my salivating
mouth,
faster than a speeding bullet.
I bit down with more pressure
than a car compactor bites
down on cars.
Crunch.
Crunch?
Chocolate bars shouldn't crunch.
I saw the wretched word
"almonds" on the wrapper
I tasted the
chocolate.
It had almonds.
If there's one thing in the world
that I don't like with my Hershey bar,
it's almonds.
But I really liked
chocolate
and could overcome
almonds.
Or so I thought.
I finished the first bar of
chocolate.
It was tougher to eat than liver
even though I've never had liver.
I decided I couldn't
overcome almonds.

I learned a very
important lesson from my
chocolate.
Never buy any
chocolate
that's on sale
without looking at the
entire wrapper.
You might end up
sick and that wouldn't
be really fun.
But you would still want
chocolate,
chocolate that you couldn't
have if you were sick.
I'll say it again.
Look at the entire wrapper
or you might have some bad
chocolate.