Fantasy Cake for Elizabeth Bishop’s 113th Birthday
After Reading John Yohe’s Ghost of Frank O’Hara
The ghost of Elizabeth Bishop
nudges me awake,
reminds me it’s her special day
and asks what cake I will purchase
since I can’t bake.
When I reply I avoid ingesting gluten,
she sighs before I utter my solution--
A dessert cookbook shelved since 1993
with a death-defying chocolate recipe.
What good are instructions
and intentions
if one never executes?
I stole this flourless torte formula
(much like my poetic concoctions)
from a celebrity chef I once met
when I reported in New Orleans.
That’s a lie.
I never physically eyed Emeril,
but after I procured his first compendium,
Lagasse sent a Santa postcard
to my Westbank news-desk
at The Times-Picayune.
To appease Elizabeth’s ghost,
I rummage in fridge and cupboard--
Gather a stick of butter, 5 large eggs,
¾ cup of sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla.
What about chocolate?
Last night, desperate for verse stimulation,
I downed an 8-ounce bag of Ghirardelli morsels.
But why apologize? Ghosts can’t taste
the velvety-sweet still alive on my tongue.
Jennifer Grant is a recovering newspaper journalist (as well as an enthusiastic eater) who resides in Newberry, FL. Her second collection of poetry, Dangerous Women, received the 2021 Blue Light Press Book award. Her first, Good Form, was published by Negative Capability Press (2017) and her chapbook Year of Convergence was included in Blue Lyra Press’ Delphi Series Vol. IX (2020).
After Reading John Yohe’s Ghost of Frank O’Hara
The ghost of Elizabeth Bishop
nudges me awake,
reminds me it’s her special day
and asks what cake I will purchase
since I can’t bake.
When I reply I avoid ingesting gluten,
she sighs before I utter my solution--
A dessert cookbook shelved since 1993
with a death-defying chocolate recipe.
What good are instructions
and intentions
if one never executes?
I stole this flourless torte formula
(much like my poetic concoctions)
from a celebrity chef I once met
when I reported in New Orleans.
That’s a lie.
I never physically eyed Emeril,
but after I procured his first compendium,
Lagasse sent a Santa postcard
to my Westbank news-desk
at The Times-Picayune.
To appease Elizabeth’s ghost,
I rummage in fridge and cupboard--
Gather a stick of butter, 5 large eggs,
¾ cup of sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla.
What about chocolate?
Last night, desperate for verse stimulation,
I downed an 8-ounce bag of Ghirardelli morsels.
But why apologize? Ghosts can’t taste
the velvety-sweet still alive on my tongue.
Jennifer Grant is a recovering newspaper journalist (as well as an enthusiastic eater) who resides in Newberry, FL. Her second collection of poetry, Dangerous Women, received the 2021 Blue Light Press Book award. Her first, Good Form, was published by Negative Capability Press (2017) and her chapbook Year of Convergence was included in Blue Lyra Press’ Delphi Series Vol. IX (2020).
