“Southern Rising” by Joni Karen Caggiano

snow lays reticent, a virgin blanket
covers nature like a gentle quilt
thick white breath journeys on
through dated chimney stones
black iron stove warms mama
making flour bread in iron skillet
tiny portions of salt pork, browns
smell of fresh coffee clings to walls
grits gurgle in pot, red-eye gravy
sizzles in sauté pan, a southern relish
sun shines on icicles made of glass
stirring as music notes shift in song
blue jay mimics hawk, on winter holly
her skill mixing smells like magic
dough rising in twin wood bowls  
along with smiles of my expectation
beams of love given through a meal
dusting small hands on flour sack apron
cinnamon buns like bites of heaven
rise, buttered, and served by seven

Copyright © 2022 Joni Karen Caggiano
All Rights Reserved

Joni is an internationally known and published poet, photographer, and author. She is a co-author of the Amazon #1 bestselling poetry anthology “Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women,” and contributed to several other anthologies.  She is a regular contributor to MasticadoresIndia and a frequent contributor to MasticadoresUSA and Spillwords Press NYC, where she has been twice nominated and won Publication of the Month for “Love Me Like a Luna” (November 2022).  As a surviving Adult Child of Alcoholics (ACOA), Joni’s blog is “Rum And Robots” (https://www.the-inner-child.com) and her complete list of books, anthologies, magazines and contests can be found in her blog’s publications page (https://www.the-inner-child.com/publications/).  Joni’s blog is an effort to help other ACOAs through faith and a strong kinship with nature. Joni is a retired nurse living in North Carolina.

instagram: @jonicaggiano

twitter:  @theinnerchild1

Featured Image: courtesy of HistoryDaily.org via Pinterest (circa 1910 Kitchen)

Editor: Barbara Harris Leonhard

Amazon Best-Selling Author

Three-Penny Memories: A Poetic Memoir (EIF-Experiments in Fiction, 2022)

Pushcart Nominee, 2022

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Divider Image: by GDJ on Pixabay