Potato Pancakes – Poetry by Laura Gaddis

Crispy edges,
seared brown.
My mouth watered as she put
it down. So did
                          my eyes.

“What’s wrong?” my husband asked.
“Nothing,” I said.
My head turned, I wiped away
                          the tear.

Grandma’s kitchen warm with sun,
with hot oil, with steam radiating from
the moist potato shreds, warm
                         with her love.

Potato pancakes, I now find you at
the German restaurant in town.
Not in her kitchen, not in her frying pan, not in her home.
I brave the menu, I brave the memories, I brave the allowance
of a time that will
                         never be again.

---

About the Poet

Laura is currently an MFA candidate studying creative nonfiction at Miami University (in Ohio). She has been published in Thin Air Magazine, The Avalon Literary Review, Adelaide Literary Magazine, Scary Mommy, Tiny Buddha, and The Mighty. She has forthcoming essays in The Kitchen Sink and Ligeia Magazine. She resides in Oxford, OH with her husband, daughter, and pug Rocky.

For the first time in nearly five years, Vita Brevis is closed for submission. Read the full story here.