Every year Bella’s mother baked
for their church’s bake sale
two cookbooks opened to grease-stained pages
Flour everywhere, electric mixer, mixing bowls,
rolling pins, measuring cups, spoons
baking racks, sheets
divine smells of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice
all through the house,
deep dish apple and sweet potato pies
baked in the oven then onto the racks to cool
Delicious, mouth watering coconut, chocolate cakes
apricot, raspberry jam thumbprint cookies
Bella’s kindergarten thumbprint in the center
Bella’s mother even made
peanut brittle
a candy thermometer, sugar, butter, vanilla
peanuts, walnuts
bubbling up violently
lots of stirring then onto the cookie sheet
She would say “hurry up, hurry up”
and Bella spread the gooey mix with a spatula
the house was filled with nutty, vanilla,
buttery goodness
Next morning at the annual ‘Communiversity Day’
sunny, hot, packed with vendors, live music
people walking
every store on Nassau Street
had a table out front showing their wares
Bella, her mother and the ladies from the church
sat behind a long table swatting away yellow jackets
and calling “Homemade baked goods here. All homemade.”
McGowan lives in Princeton Junction. She has had her poetry selected by VSA New Jersey to be read at Crossroads Theater. She attends Delaware Valley Inc., Twin Rivers Writers Group, and Anna Evans Poetry Workshop. She is a member and participant in GSSL activities.
