ManicDDaily

Missing Something

Yellow-black burn
spilled into linoleum dim, overswarming
with olfactory buzz
the warm hum of being eight
and baking on my own.

My mother tromped from bedroom telephone
to bemoan the oven floor puddled
with goo that still dripped
stalactite-like
from tube pan liner, a reverse lava swirling thick
amarillo onto the glowing U
of heating element.

So elemental, it seemed to her, that the eggs
in a sponge cake (her favorite) must be separated, whites beaten
into stiff peaks
as the recipe I had not read through
required,
and that the lining of a tube pan, especially
when incorrectly positioned, could not, like first base fumbling,
hold
a running batter.

So, I learned, or was taught–for
I’m not sure I’ve learned it yet–that life
is not simply a stir-in
of the sequential–that you can’t,
in other words, just pour a bunch of stuff
into a bowl and expect
to eat cake–

But how could it be? Magic,
my burning cheeks were certain, was supposed
to work my way,
just as in every story–
except perhaps The Little Match Girl,
Bambi, Charlotte’s Web….

Okay.
But there should at least,
I was sure, be a third wish, a silver lining
to re-capture the remiss, cloak consequence
with iridescence, not
leak.

****************************

A reading of the poem, if interested:

*****************************
I am posting the above for dVerse Poets Pub Poetics prompt hosted by Stu McPherson, about ‘missing’.  I did another poem earlier today about missing my brain, and worms, but decided that even a failed cake was a bit more savory.

For those who don’t know, a tube pan is a pan with an inner liner and tube that fits into a bottomless frame.  It should ideally be used for very thick batters (like fruit cake), or very puffy batters (like angel food cake or sponge cake).  Or my problem may be have been that I put the pieces together backwards!

Have a nice weekend.  And if you get a chance, check out my books! Poetry, GOING ON SOMEWHERE, (by Karin Gustafson, illustrated by Diana Barco). 1 Mississippi -counting book for lovers of rivers, light and pachyderms, orNose Dive. Nose Dive is available on Kindle for just 99 cents!