Luanne Castle
Dear Kitchen
Stop with your drooping face when I pull a supermarket meal from the fridge or let the bananas go black and--goddess forbid--throw them in the trash instead of making a loaf. I suspect you remember the days of floured counters, the scent of rising dough, and baking bread. Other days, the air redolent with curry or bibimbap or a crispy-skinned Thanksgiving turkey with fixings. The sizzle of pan-fried breaded yellow squash. Our specialty, crispy latkes with dill and chives, sour cream. All those years, I took the lead. I’m worn out. Isn’t it your turn to feed me?
Luanne Castle’s poetry and prose have appeared in Copper Nickel, River Teeth, JMWW, Grist, Fourteen Hills, Verse Daily, Cleaver, Bending Genres, MacQueen’s Quinterly, and many more. She has published four award-winning poetry collections. Her hybrid memoir-in-flash, Scrap: Salvaging a Family, will be published by ELJ Editions in spring 2026.