In honor of Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead and the ice-cream that was named after Jerry.

Cherry Garcia

by Kaye Linden

 O.K. I took on the challenge in one long sentence but this looks more like a rave than a rant.  Thoughts anyone?  Kaye

You imagine Jerry Garcia alive and well inside “Ben and Jerry’s” Cherry Garcia ice-cream, and you take a bite and hear the first “ta da” zing your metal filling like a wrong chord on steel guitar strings and your mouth salivates while sucking a chocolate- covered bing cherry but its cold gives you brain freeze and you curse Jerry whose “ice-cream is too damn cold,” but still, his namesake has created “perfection” with saliva-stimulating chocolate chips and cherries to satisfy cravings, and you feel grateful to be alive so you can melt dark chocolate in your mouth and you remember pre-gratefully dead Jerry eating ice-cream on stage, singing Saint Stephen with a Rose, with other “cats” under the stars, including Jerry’s no- eye contact with the audience, no mouth movement, non-blinking eyes, strands of hair hanging, and the audience truckin’ with a non-stop three hours of The other one and Jerry’s unmoving stare floating like hot marshmallows over the crowd and you take another mouthful of Jerry and remember the large spot of food on the front pocket of his faded blue T-shirt and figure it must have been Cherry Garcia.