CAKE WITH FLUTE
Clang of pan
against lilt of Mozart.
Flour, scoop, and measure, measure.
Buttercream vibrato, vanilla harmony.
Egg whip. Trill.
Three, four.
Three fourths cup of milk
to whisk. And soda,
powder. Rising,
rising, up the scale. Note
the heat now. Allegro,
hotter. One quick breath
and mix with grace
notes. Honey that milk
for all it's worth.
Therese Clear
for my son Nelson, at ten
The American poet T. Clear has been writing and publishing for more than thirty years, and is a founder of Floating Bridge Press (http://www.scn.org/floatingbridge/main.html). She began baking at an early age, and believes the baking process to be as close to religion as she'll ever get (in spite of many years steeped in Catholicism). A former owner of Two Tartes Bakery in Seattle, she now manages production and shipping for an international glass artist.
*
This week, the Tuesday Poets are swapping poems in a festive pairing - or "Secret Santa". I'm delighted to have been linked up with Therese, whose lively blog I first encountered a year or so ago. I don't think I've missed a post there since. Thanks for sending Cake with Flute, T. There is nothing mundane about this (or, as far as I can tell - any) of your baking adventures. My experience of this poem is (amongst other things) as a dance in which flour and grace notes are happy partners.
Happy Christmas to you all from the Tuesday Poets - and three cheers for Mary McCallum who has so wonderfully and wholeheartedly coordinated this weekly poetry initiative. Thank you, Mary.
