Melissa Dickson Blackburn
Bitter Sonnet
On the Passing of Gourmet Magazine
for Gail
It is the last issue of our Gourmet.
Here on the rim of winter, on the cusp
Of consumption, how dare we foray
Into seasons of culinary lust
Sans our guide, sans brioche, sans cassoulet,
Minus the clear broth charm, the recipes,
The bread and water of our gastric flights?
Tell me, Gail, what meaty balm, what mastic
Can seal this plunging and hungry absence?
Here is the turkey on page eighty-five,
Bronzed, glazed, as divine as poultry can be.
Must we greet a new year in bitter chagrin,
Lovers of pages that won't roast again?
Bio
Melissa Dickson Blackburn is a mother, marketing executive, and MFA student of poetry at Converse College. Her work has previously appeared in Southern Humanities Review, Caesura, Southern Women's Review, The Driftwood Review, Birmingham Arts Journal, Breadcrumb Scabs and Glass, A Journal of Poetry. She holds an MFA in Painting from the School of Visual Arts, 1995. In 1992, she received a BFA in painting from Auburn University where she was a recipient of the Academy of American Poets Award. Her first collection, Cameo, is forthcoming in January 2011 from New Plains Press.