Poetrepository: Grandma Hahn's Bread

Grandma (Clara) Hahn’s Bread

4 cakes compressed yeast

Almost a century separates us

and yet time compresses –

you are here with me

in my kitchen.

1 cup lukewarm water

I cup my hands around the story

that you once held infant me.

6 tablespoons sugar

It would have sweetened our lives

had the car wreck not happened –

my father anchored by family

my mother loved as a daughter

we children connected to ancestors

1 qt. skimmed milk

but all those possibilities were skimmed away

like the thick, rich cream

that rises to the top of the morning milking

brought straight to the kitchen from the barn.

4 tablespoons shortening

I made your bread once for Dad,

attempting to shorten the distance

that had formed between us.

It was good, he said, but

about 14 ¼ cups Mother’s Best

not the same as yours.

7 ½ teaspoons salt

It’s not the same as yours,

but this three-rise half-day project

is as close as I’ll ever get

to the flavor of your love,

Grandma Hahn.

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