Pineapple Upside Down Cake
For my father, Harvey Eugene Cottle (February 28, 1948-December 5, 2023)
It was the only choice for a man
who did not like traditional cake or routes,
a man opposed to any recipe which tasted typical,
or predictable, any taste which left him thirsty.
He told us stories when we were children,
stories full of boxes full of pineapples,
loaded onto the dock of his grocery store,
shipped from a place he had never seen,
somewhere distant on the dusty world globe
resting on the left side of the wood desk in his office.
He always described the way their skins peeled,
weeping from the weight of their journey.
I learned quickly why it was his favorite fruit,
why my father picked the stringy yellow meat—
a complement to his milkshakes, his potatoes,
his cottage cheese, his late winter birthday.
It was the most unapologetic fruit in his store,
the fruit with the toughest skin,
protecting a core so sweet it almost burned
from its own natural juice,
the fruit that took an extra sharp knife to cut,
bound tight in its armor like a seasoned knight.
At first, I didn’t understand its name–
nor its purpose: upside-down cake,
when my mother served it every February 28,
a few hours shy of leap day,
its preparation clothed in the corners of her kitchen.
It just looked like a worn-out cake,
the rusty and spongey yellow rings sunken in,
while still shining like aging artifacts.
It could have been any set of used flanges;
hollowed tree rings; a series of sore, tired eyes.
Yet, it could also have been bands of hidden gold—
waiting for discovery under a light dusting of exhaustion,
the metal lurking almost close enough for capture,
just about in reach of my father’s uncharted instincts,
which faithfully followed the scent of surprise.
Blue-Cheese Burgers
Katherine Cottle is the author of The Hidden Heart of Charm City (nonfiction), I Remain Yours (creative nonfiction), Halfway (memoir), and My Father’s Speech (poetry), all published by AH/Loyola University Maryland. Cottle teaches writing at Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland and for the Goucher Prison Education Partnership. You can find out more about her work at www.katherinecottle.com.
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