From Heaven | The Quarantine Poems

The Quarantine Poems is a series of poetry written durning the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, available in text and in audio.

The second instalment, 'from heaven’, is authored by Emily Blair.

From Heaven

The first woman who made bread must have been murdered.
What else but witchcraft?
At age four, a stale tortilla shoved in my hot hand
on the front lawn of the Church of Christ.
They said, Like the Israelites.
Like Moses in the desert. Manna from Heaven. 

And the first women who made bread was me
in this kitchen, pouring seven grams of yeast out of a tiny packet
now so rare. When I make bread, I am the only person using their hands
in the world. When my bread has been baked, a soft French loaf,
I know how God felt. 

My great-grandmother’s name was Mary Magdalene,
a fact I cannot reconcile, but in research I find
nowhere does the Bible call Mary Magdalene a prostitute.
We do. And when I’m kneading bread
one heeled hand at a time, knocking the air out, taking in
the inherent messiness of the universe I know
even I can feed a crowd.