Blue Mountain Arts Poetry Contest
Sustenance
by Karen Edmisten
TwEntieth Contest
third Place
Bread,
like marriage,
requires the promise
of leavening.
There is flour and water —
foundation — yes,
but it begs
something more:
fermentation, lather,
messiness
and growth.
It must take on life,
risk failure,
swell in size,
though never
sloppily escape
its necessary confines.
My husband
mixes flour
and water,
baking bread for me.
It is nothing,
he says.
It is everything,
I counter,
as I watch him
measure, stir yeast
and add salt,
carefully constructing a promise.