Bread

The scent of winter’s mellowed
by the yeasty aroma
of your fingers kneading dough.

Now foliage covers the ground,
the year fades from brown
to grey, drawing in with early dusk.

My stomach’s hollow with the taste of frost
as I bite into the first slice of home-baked toast
spread with butter soft and yellow as leaves.

Kim M. Russell, 4th December 2018

Bread

My response to dVerse Poets Pub Poetics: Secret Ingredient, also linked to Imaginary Garden with Real Toads Tuesday Platform

Amaya is not only bartending tonight but also serving as sous chef for a dVerse holiday version of Stone Soup, in which everyone brings one SECRET ingredient.

She says that this time of year is not lacking for palate stimulation but tonight we’re going to dish out poems with a little something extra, unprecedented, and of course delicious that will keep the reader/taster intrigued and coming back for seconds; we’re bringing poems featuring a secret ingredient to the table.

To get us in the mood, Amaya has shared poems by James Tipton and Ogden Nash, containing secret ingredients within the context of recipes and breaking the informal ‘rules’ of love poetry with erratic rhyme scheme and astringent flavours.

Amaya suggests adding our own personal touches to a form, perhaps something with which we feel confident, such as a sonnet, sonnet, free verse, golden shovel, ode, ghazal, cinquain, with a pinch or splash of something uniquely our own, not usually found within chosen form, such as word choice to hint at the hidden undertones or overtones.

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55 thoughts on “Bread”

  1. Ohhhhhh Kim! There is absolutely nothing like walking into a house and smelling fresh baking bread! My mouth is watering with your post….and oh yes…it does warm the spirits in the middle of winter! 🙂 I am IN your poem! 🙂

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  9. You nailed and rocked the prompt with this one. The second stanza encapsulates winter, topped and bottomed, like a word sandwich, with baking bread; so strong and sensual. God, how I miss my mother’s homemade bread.

    Liked by 3 people

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  10. Oh I love this 😀 and now you have made me want homemade bread.. mmmm ❤️ The comparison of butter as “soft and yellow as leaves” is brilliant! 😍

    PS: And thank you for the warm and loving words of encouragement 🙂 you’re the best! ❤️

    Liked by 2 people

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    1. Thank you so much, Sanaa! I think you’ll find that, once you start teaching, you won’t have much time for anything else. Don’t let it keep you from your writing; it may influence it but it must never change you and your lovely romantic poetry.

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    1. It’s my husband who does the baking – and he’s so good at it. He won’t use the breadmaking machine I got him for his birthday last year as he’s having so much fun. 🙂

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  15. “My stomach’s hollow with the taste of frost”: A perfect line careening the course of this homely, observational verse. I really enjoyed this reading, with its sensory appeal and atmospheric feeling. It evokes the comforts of the home and the imagery of the season in a paralleled sequence. 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

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  20. Those are my winter likes. Unfortunately our surroundings outside the house are in need of a helping hand in coping with the winter elements. A cold wind always seems to blow when I’m out running and wrapping faucets, etc.
    ..

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  26. The ability to take something simple and make a poem so full of texture and touch, that it feels like I am really there, eating bread, must be a secret ingredient all of its own, even if it’s not the one you intended ☺️

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  27. Pingback: Bread-Making in Winter – writing in north norfolk

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