March 31st, 2020
Two Poems
by Ellen Stone
Cream Puffs
Those days she was eggy
seemed like the sun always shone
lemon-sifted spring lazy
pollen drifts
rusted old box grater
thick vanilla custard stirred
yellow cornstarch box sprinkled sugar
rich milk dribbled
yolked in buttercups all
the live long day. Mom
always cooking something up,
hum, hum, humming.
Drops of batter dough spun
with a whack of hands big
against the faded pastel bowl
turquoise stove white-gold Corelle
& here come the cream puffs
bronzed puffballs peeking
out splattered oven door
scotched up fat against each
other sheet-pan steaming
Let them cool, kids, watch out!
Step by the dog hack off
knobby top and slop the cream
inside cloud-sweet fluff
never let it cool enough so
oven warm & God knows
what we’ll have for dinner.
Ellen Stone reads “Cream Puffs”:
Leftover Spools
In a room made of web, we spun gossamer thread
shaping space geometrically—turning air into pockets,
cubby holes, more and more intricate until we trapped ourselves
into corners right in the middle of nowhere, our intent,
to be lost there. Cocooned as any bundled creature
must feel, so tired and ready for winter to just be done.
Only a child would readily wish to be wrapped in silk,
woven tightly in a maze while Mother hummed nearby.
This is when life made sense. When Dad, after work, gutted
squirrel for dinner, and grease in the iron frying pan meant
he had provided. No wonder I still long for clutter, and blank
space brings a case of nerves. Emptiness meant we might starve
to death. All that webbing might be claustrophobic,
complicating escape. But, nowhere is where we wanted to go.
Ellen Stone reads “Leftover Spools”:
Ellen Stone advises Poetry Club at Community High School and cohosts a monthly poetry series in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Her poems have appeared recently in Mantis, Switchback, The Citron Review, Pretty Owl Poetry, cahoodaloodaling, and The Eastern Iowa Review. Ellen is the author of What Is in the Blood (Mayapple Press, 2020) and The Solid Living World (Michigan Writers’ Cooperative Press, 2013). Her poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. Ellen can be reached at www.ellenstone.org.