appealing

The Maynard
Spring 2018

Laura Cesarco Eglin
0:00
 
 

Say It Delicious

I’ve assigned magic to oranges
              the belief that anything can be
              improved with its juice or rind

conviction is
not the same as stubbornness

stab the cake—make sure to do it
straight out of the oven
straight out of the blade of
a knife that doesn’t stop
until it’s hinted at pieces
       then pour
              generously
                            what flows circulates better
                            than what you measure

learn
                            leaving
                            involves learning
                            to walk more than once

and there you have it:

I’m still trying to convince
myself that marmalade tastes
better than jam

                            it’s the orange I miss
                            when I don’t recognize it

what a few extra syllables can do
to taste buds: marmalade

this is what potions are made of

concentrate
              what’s hidden
behind our focus: drops go
farther than the whole

              the orange is as round as I can begin
                    and then include more

even if I want to do it
the secret can’t be dismantled
completely—

there’s always more orange

in what’s discarded there’s
what was left
unsaid