Hilary King
Breakfast Before, Breakfast Now
Before, breakfast was yogurt.
straight from the cup, eaten
over my laptop as I researched
camps for the kids or ordered
groceries online, trying to check
off another chore before work,
swearing when a thick white
sour smelling drop of my breakfast
hit the keyboard.
An hour later I wondered why
I was starving.
Breakfast now. One pandemic day
I read a recipe In the news
and make it right away, something
I’ve never done before.
Baked oats. One cup oats, three cups
Boiling water, cinnamon, salt, peanut butter.
Bake for an hour. Thirty minutes in, the kitchen
begins to smell delicious, nutty, spicy, and warm.
I am hungry. I ran 3 miles earlier, walked the dog twice,
unloaded the dishwasher but I’m patient.
I can wait.
I can wait.
—Submitted on 03/23/20
Hilary King is the author of the The Maid’s Car (Aldrich Press, 2015). Her poems have appeared in Fourth River, Belletrist, Gyroscope Review, The Cortland Review, PANK, Blue Fifth Review, Ki’n, SWIMM, Mom Egg Review, Sky Island Journal, Anti-Heroin Chic, and other journals. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and is quarantined with 2 kids, 1 husband, 1 dog, and 1 cat.
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