One day early on in these Covid days, I shut my computer, stopped working early and decided to make bread. This isn’t something I do often, and I always start with some trepidation. Yeast holds so much potential for triumph and for tragedy. Is there anything sadder than a lump of dough that gives rise only to questions? Was my water hot enough? Was it too hot? Was the yeast old? What’s the meaning of life anyway?
I needed a visceral experience and bread making is exactly that. I wanted to lose myself in measuring and mixing–in creating. I yearned for a sensory immersion — dusting puffs of flour, the rich, fungal scent of yeast, the pull of muscles in my arms, and the dense weight of fingers shaggy with dough. The feeling of dough becoming more springy, more elastic, as my working hands and arms wind up its potential.
And then comes the wait…holding my breath…anticipating…worrying…
There’s a true understated elegance to a loaf of homemade whole wheat bread. Tied to the fields with grain yet aspiring to the sky, bread transcends its humble fungal and grain origins to become much more than merely a sum of its parts. I was looking for that miracle, and on this particular day, I found it.
Making Bread
Yeast blooms
as surely as buds blossom
unfurling
its rich scent
with the elixir
of temperature
and time
Bread rises
transcending
its origins
of root-bound grains
and tiny fungi
a marriage
of earth and sky
everyday miracle
©Molly Hogan, 2020
The only thing better than the smell of bread baking is the taste of it, toasted and spread with some homemade jam.
Jam Gratitude
I’m
grateful
for jam jars
in my cupboard.
Summer concentrate.
Each taste a reminder
of warm sun, sticky fingers
of laughing, picking, gathering,
preserving berries and memories.
Saving the sweetness for a darker day.
©Molly Hogan, 2020
Thanks to Liz Garton Scanlon and her video about gratitude etherees for inspiring me to try this new-to-me form. I love the look–here it reminds me of spreading jam across my toasted homemade bread.
Thanks so much for stopping by Poetry Friday this week. To join in the fun, add your link below!
NOTE: I inadvertently set the time wrong in the party and as far as I can tell, there’s no way to undo that now that the link party is over! I’m so sorry!!! (If someone knows how, please let me know.) Let me know if you tried to link and couldn’t do so, and I’ll add you here!
Here’s Susan Bruck’s post about the three little kittens who lost their mittens: https://www.soulblossomliving.com/three-little-kittens-with-sock-and-glove-puppets/
Nix the comfort zone 
Bummer. I was too late to add my link, so I’ll add it here.
https://missrumphiuseffect.blogspot.com/2020/04/npm-2020-on-poetry-friday-in-garden.html
The bread looks soooooo good! And thank you for these poems. I am going to save that sweetness for a darker day.
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Tricia, I added your link to the roundup just now– I just saw your pending comment today. So sorry for the delay!
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[…] this old classic is my offering for Poetry Friday. Molly over at Nix the Comfort Zone hosts this week. Check out her blog to see what she has to say about making bread in the time of […]
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Oh, what beauty in the homely act of baking bread. You capture so wonderfully in your poems and photos. I love your jam poem, too. Thanks for warming my heart. I can almost smell the bread baking!
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It’s still Friday night (at least here in Mountain Time), but the InLinkz party has ended. So here’s the link to my post about the three little kittens who lost their mittens: https://www.soulblossomliving.com/three-little-kittens-with-sock-and-glove-puppets/
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Susan, I am soooo sorry! I just shared your post via my blog and added it to the body of my post. I’m waiting to hear back from inlinkz about editing the link party.
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Oh, Molly, please excuse my lateness in coming to the party. Yesterday was overfull of life with appointments, with Zoom meetings, with Schoology discoveries. with grocery deliveries, with time on the treadmill in order to reach my 10,000 step goal.
I loved your poems. But you’re not a novice to bread making. Anyone who can describe the process so beautifully has practiced it more than a few times. And your Jam Gratitude makes me want to create a gratitude etheree.
Here’s my link with a poetic remembrance of our super moon:
https://pleasuresfromthepage.blogspot.com/2020/04/poetry-friday-remembering-super-moon.html
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Ramona, I totally understand those oh-so-full days, even though they seem counterintuitive with so much shut down. (How does that work anyway!?) I so hope you didn’t get “locked out” because of my timing mistake. I posted your link on my blog, too.
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You fibonacci is inspiring. And writing abut jam and bread. Yum. I broke out my Marrionberry jam for bread. Thanks for the tasty post.
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I have never tried marrionberry jam. I’ll have to seek some out!
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