sprovence
-
L. Castle, Dear Kitchen
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…
-
S. Browning, For the Editor Who Called Grandmother Poems Sentimental
Sarah Browning For the Editor Who Called Grandmother Poems Sentimental I never saw my English grandmother cook a single thing. She was raised by Victorians, vegetarian. Dinner was store-brand canned vegetable soup and cottage cheese. Lunch, canned peaches, and cottage cheese. Breakfast, cold cereal, or maybe cottage cheese.So, a surprise! The Sunset Magazine Vegetarian Cookbook…
-
M. Maddox, Let Them Eat Cake
Marjorie Maddox Let Them Eat Cake attributed to Marie AntoinetteWhy not lose yourself in Black Forest, dress yourself in Red Velvet, speak German Chocolate fluently while upside-down in Pineapple? Because. Because. Look past your own table. Sure, in this no-cake-walk of a world, savorCarrot, Apple, & Strawberry; weigh Sponge & Pound; choose Devil’sover Angel, but…
-
D. Coor, Making Apple Crisp on New Years Day
Deborrah Corr Making Apple Crisp on New Year’s Day The apple fits the curve of my left fingers. With the right, I wield the peeler. Its soundtrack, a soft scrape and grate as I rotate the globe, round and round until it trails a long tail that falls to the sink, like holiday wrappings that…
-
S. Laskin, Breakfast with the stars
Sarah Laskin Breakfast with the Stars Up walking Rocky in the proto-dawn,turn the corner where the trees openand Orion is exposed to view, alwayssteps behind the seven sisters, his prey.Stand and watch, wait for the signalthat says Orion, time to give your bow back to the prop master, make wayon the stage for the Sun,…
-
M. Diedericks, UFOs and Euphemisms
Megan Diedericks UFOs and Euphemisms When the shooting staris just an alien spacecraft,be carefulwhat you wish for. Megan Diedericks writes poetry and fiction; everything from meek to macabre can be found in between the lines. The 2025 Rhysling Award Nominee is the author of the darkest of times, the darkest of thoughts (2022, self-published) and…
-
M. Duncan, Until I Met You I Was Merely Human
Margie Duncan Until I Met You I Was Merely Human Turtle loves its shell, that weighty carapacethat makes anywhere on earth a home, and shell loves its turtle, the promenadethrough any thicket toward adventure.You’re my palankeen through brush and storm,and I’m your speckled shelter from the beasts,though there’s an argument to be made for the…
-
M. Sterling, Sonnet for the Janus Bird
Meghan Sterling Sonnet for the Janus Bird In the dream, I was writing a poem for a two-headedbird. I only remember the last line—the self, past and current. Current as in the pull of the sea. Current as in the electric truth of who I have become. How much I have changed, wild bird. Even…
-
J. Simms, On Becoming an Albatross
Jess Simms On Becoming an Albatross You were not born to be a burden. When you soar the wind is freedom, weightless over endless water. It is only when on land that you are heavy, a vessel filled by others’ guilt, your wings slacked by their violence. They don’t care to hear of the distant…
-
J. Simms, On Becoming a Unicorn
Jess Simms On Becoming a Unicorn You have big hooves to fill. All that talk of magic and beauty, rainbows and purity—it’s a lot to live up to. You’re just a horse with a horn, when it comes down to it, and it’s exhausting to kill the same dream over and over and over. So…