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Making Loaves

Get a starter with life in it.
Keep it covered.
Feed it often.

The black mother will rise
and fill the kitchen with her tang
even before a match is struck.

Stir. Sift flour, to strain out impurities,
agglutinations,
with a little sugar,
enough salt.

Mix all.
Let the mass rest.

Turn it onto the old board,
fold, press, fold again,
beat the muscular round with your fist
until it springs back from your touch.

Resistance, compliance.
Divide into loaves, let rest once more.
When you have done this again and again
you won’t need measure,

you’ll move in a cloud
of spores like souls, wild yeasts,
perfume your loaves
with your own particular scent.

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Arlene Weiner's poems have appeared in journals including the Paterson Literary Review, Pleiades, Poet Lore, and U.S. 1 Worksheets, and in anthologies, and have been heard on The Writer's Almanac. Arlene was awarded a residence at the MacDowell Colony. Ragged Sky Press published two collections of her poems, Escape Velocity (2006) and City Bird (2016). Arlene maintains websites for Squirrel Hill Poetry Workshop and Pittsburgh Poetry Exchange. She also writes plays. Pittsburgh Playwrights Theater Co. produced her play Findings in 2017, and Carlow University Theater performed her monologue "Clothesline" in 2018.