A Sabbath Poem (Polacco)

THE TASTE OF WARM BREAD
~ by Stacey Polacco (New York City)

A child stands outside
The bakery window staring at the
Freshly baked bread,
the scent of hot dough rises up into her imagination and
she can taste the softness between her lips,
the hard chewy crust delicious on her tongue
she continues to stare and sees pure perfection
As if nothing in the world ever looked so good
So desirable, though she’s not unfamiliar with
Being hungry and staring at what she can’t have
Which at first – makes her wonder why…?
Why she can’t havea piece of what she desperately hungers for
Why so many others can
But then understands somehow that starving and staring
Is exactly where she’s supposed to be
As if the bakery was created to reveal her hunger
And there is a delight in that, as there is a delight in the dough
And she breathes in what she knows she can’t have
filled with a sense she somehow created it.

(Thank you Stacey for this gift!)

Comments

[Roger Saner]

This is a wonderful peom, thanks Stacey! I like the line which talks about the existence of the bakery revealing hunger. I wonder if perhaps it's also the other way around, that hunger was created to reveal the bakery?