Elizabeth Alford features Nov 27

Always open mic, always free: 11/27/2017 Elizabeth Alford hosted by J. D.
A longtime fan of short poetry, Elizabeth Alford (Hayward, CA) usually writes on her laptop, but in its absence will settle for her cell phone. Her work has recently appeared in print in POETALK, and various online venues such as brass bell: a haiku journal, haikuniverse, and the cherita: your storybook journal. Please visit her author page @ Facebook.com/ElizabethAlfordPoetry

Heaven is My Mother’s Apple Pie
by Elizabeth Alford

Once a year
(and only under the best
possible circumstances)
my mother makes
her apple pie, and that first
bite—oh! how buttery
and crumbly the crust, how
spicy the forbidden fruit
filling still warm from the oven
and swirls of cinnamon,
sweet and tang waltzing to flavor
on the ballroom floor
of my tongue—is almost enough
to make me sing praise
to a god I don’t believe in,
even though I know
deep in my heart
and in my stomach
that if there is an afterlife,
it is after Thanksgiving dinner
and that my mother
is a god of gods
who can bake the whole
of the universe
into a pie.