Synkroniciti is pleased to welcome back poet John Milkereit of Houston with “Ode to Anticipation,” a celebration of adolescent appetite and the comfort foods that shaped his early life in Chicago. The poem revels in the sensory abundance of youth, when some of the simplest (and least nutritious) meals and snacks carry the thrill of expectation, a thrill that feels almost naughty to our adult selves.
“Applaud Saturday night hamburgers sizzling on the Weber,/ toasted buns, open-faced readiness on a white plate, ketchup/ oozing to puddle galore, pre-frozen french fries sizzled/ on a cookie sheet.”
John explores food as heritage: an archive of taste, ritual, and identity. We return to childhood favorites, despite our inability to eat as indulgently, only to find the flavors have changed, or our palates have, making the memory all the sweeter. He captures that tension with humor, affection, and a keen sense of longing.
Read “Ode to Anticipation” in Synkroniciti’s Expectations, Vol. 8, No. 2, available here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/.
John Milkereit grew up as a teenager in Chicago during the 1970s where he enjoyed a variety of carbs from junk food. Today, his diet is better. Now he lives in Houston, Texas working as a mechanical engineer and has completed an M.F.A. in Creative Writing at the Rainier Writing Workshop. His poems have appeared in literary journals such as The Ekphrastic Review, The Comstock Review, and previous issues of Synkroniciti. He has judged various poetry contests and has been nominated twice for a Pushcart Prize. In December 2025, Kelsay Books published his fifth poetry collection, The Beginning of Undoing.