For a long time after,
the red cake tin
flashes its warning
from a kitchen shelf.
No one dares throw it out
or lift the lid, but you
creep down at night
to gorge on grief’s dark
fruit, the smell of rum
rising from the gloom.
All that’s left
when you are done
is misery’s yellowed rind,
twisting through days
with an aftertaste that clings
to every breath as time
peels her further from you.
Remembering how it was made is hard:
crooked measuring cup
of memory, ingredients in a bowl…
stir
too hard
too fast
too much
until all that’s left
is the raw mix
clinging to a spoon.
Martin Jago is a British-American poet and immigrant writer based in Los Angeles. His debut collection, Photofit, is published by Pindrop Press (2023). He’s the author of four critically-acclaimed nonfiction titles on Shakespeare, (Smith & Kraus 2012 – 2018). His writing has appeared in literary magazines like Agenda, Acumen, The Moth, LIT Magazine, Naugatuck River Review, Presence, The Penn Review, The High Window, Artillery Magazine and the poetry podcast Poetry Worth Hearing. He has a Master’s in Creative Writing from the University of Oxford where he was a full HEFCE scholar and F.H. Pasby Prize finalist.