Her Tender Slice
Sugar, butter, flour, water, icing, chocolate cream, eggs, milk, vanilla essence, bake for forty five minutes, find his mouth.
The soft fabrics of her apron
Find her waist like hands,
He’s angry at her again:
It’s always when he’s hungry.
Sugar, her man likes cocaine.
Butter, he comes home angry,
She apologises for
Nothing.
Flour, hold onto the foundations
Of his powder temper.
Water, she asks him to sober up,
Icing, he hits her,
Bruises decorate her body.
Chocolate cream,
He holds her,
Eggs and milk,
He eats her tender slice,
He says he’s sorry,
Vanilla essence, or the essence of love
Or something like love or
If love is a cake then why does she bake muffins
That she can run with?
If love is baking
Why is she a waitress,
Her partner a patron taking
More than she gave him.
He says he’s sorry, he cries, they kiss,
Bake for forty five minutes in his mouth.
His hands mould her, she is little,
Whisky on his breath,
She gets lost in his lips.
How to bake a cake:
Sugar, coke, butter, sorry, flour, I love you, his hands, his mouth, her silence.
Poetry by Luke Cable 