A FAVORITE MEMORY MAKES A FAVORITE POEM

I wrote this poem about a childhood memory of baking with my grandmother. It won first place in a poetry contest at Arkansas Writers Conference in June. I hope you enjoy it.

Memory in the Baking

  

The scent of vanilla and brown sugar

draws me into the heart of my grandmother’s house –

toasty warm, rowdy

Grandmother straightens and turns from the stove

her aproned fists clutching a bubbling pie –

golden brown, perfect

Giggling cousins sneak a spoon into the bowl

as the stand-mixer whirrs and spins –

creamy, gooey batter

Excited voices and laughter rise and fall against

the backdrop of music from a transistor radio –

static, tinny country

Hot water cascades into the deep sink

building foamy mountains of suds –

snow white, steamy

The boisterous scene evaporates

leaving me standing silent in my own kitchen –

modern, empty, cold