Maureen Kingston

blind-baking, or, her allegory of the cave

pie crust

naked, missing her sweet filling, coconut cream, french silk, chiffon voices calling from beyond the concave, princess peaks she chooses to ignore in favor of the closed oven door, finding freedom through castellation, incarceration, the foreplay of grease smears & rack marks on her back

fill with pulses

her suede pouch is meant to hold the lightness of pearls, but you weigh her down, load her up with seeds, private eyes sent to spy, to make certain her dough doesn’t rebel-swell, doesn’t expand beyond your shallow pan, or, god forbid, stretch-mark your expertly crimped crown

or dock

your carving fork comes at her, erect fangs intent on pre-venting, on nicking her anger in the bud

egg-gloss finish

she glints, she glows, she is polished off

 

Maureen Kingston’s poems and prose have appeared or are forthcoming in B O D Y, Gargoyle, Gravel, Hermeneutic Chaos Literary Journal, Modern Poetry Quarterly Review, The Screaming Sheep, Stoneboat Literary Journal, Terrain.org, and Verse Wisconsin. A few of her pieces have also been nominated for Best of the Net and Pushcart awards.