I–of the necessity of alimentation

Just as a steam engine does not function without water and coal, and the motor of an automobile stops when short of gasoline, the poet, in order to furnish poetry, must be fed regularly. It is food that gives the poet strength and heat.

The first thing a poet does with food is to chew it. This consists of breaking the food into small pieces, mixing it up with his saliva, thus making it easier to swallow and to digest, and chewing it well. The poet needs for this a complete set of teeth, that is to say a total of 32, 16 in each jaw, consisting of cutting teeth or canines, and grinding teeth or molars.

Once his food is chewed, the poet swallows it, and it passes down the gullet (or “aesophagus”) into the stomach of the poet. There the food is reduced to a semi-liquid paste by the digestive juices of the poet, and it passes into a long, thin tube called the small intestine of the poet, and from this small intestine in due time into a wider tube of the large intestine.

The stomach of the poet works at least two hours after every meal. If the poet did not take good care of it, it would tire easily. This is why:

——–the poet eats at regular hours
——–the poet does not eat too rapidly, in order to avoid indigestion
——–the poet eats slowly, so that his food is well impregnated with his saliva
——–the poet observes a well-balanced diet, building up his body with lean meat, fish, cheese, the yolk and white of egg, peas, beans, etc., accumulating energy with bread, potatoes, sugar, butter and margarine, fatty meat and fish, and protecting his health with fresh vegetables, fresh fruit, animals fats and wholewheat bread (The best food of all, nevertheless, is milk, which contains proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and mineral salts. This explains why poets drink all they can get.)
——–the poet brushes his teeth mornings and nights, and following every meal, for the little bits of food remaining between his teeth rot if they are not removed, and give to the poet’s breath a horrible smell
——–the poet defecates at least once a day, for the digestive waste of the poet, if it stays too long inside his large intestine–which ends up with the anus of the poet–will cause certain poisoning.

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from A Filliou Sampler–published as a Great Bear Pamphlet (1967)

These are old, but you can probably find a copy online

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By Robert Filliou 👍