Monday, December 20, 2010

The Center of a Pound Cake

Tasting the hottest hot sauce in Texas
and there’s no bread nor milk
anywhere around.

Pressing your face into the glass
of the cake shop downtown
knowing you can’t afford McDonald’s
much less a $2,500 wedding cake.

Going for hours after eating
a bowl full of pistachios
without a single glass of water
to soothe that burning saltiness
on your tongue.

Smelling the forbidden pecan pie
in the oven your mother
is taking to the church picnic,
knowing you’ll never get a slice.

Running to the kitchen
after a terrible day at school,
looking behind the Slim Fast
for the hidden tub of cookie dough,
then realizing your brother
ate all of it.

Missing you is worse
than the lingering burn
on the tongue after a too eager
bite of steaming, buttered cornbread. 

1 comment:

diannanicole said...

love makes poetry easier, doesn't it?