floured fingers /
flowering in the clouded surrender /
sunken in /
the boiled ripe of toil /
an aromatic embrace /
silver bowled dough /
tucked between my knobby knees /
pit the swollen /
the unclumped heap of a clean scoop /
loaf the time into tact halves /
whole plums hang rotund from heavenly branches /
puckered fruitless /
bruised but beloved on the kitchen table /
didn’t you know /
that you should build a house where the plum tree grows
&
didn’t you know /
that’s how the women in the old country made it
your biceps should swell with knead /
Michele Popadich is a graduate student at Northwestern University, working on her MFA in Creative Nonfiction with a focus on flash and experimental form. Her essays have appeared in Hippocampus Magazine, Talking Writing, Driftless and Lint Magazine. Her poetry has appeared in Heavy Feather Review, LOCUS, and Lost Balloon. She lives in Chicago and works as a product manager and freelance editor. You can read more of her work on her website. Instagram & Twitter: @miche1ewith1L