“Like Strands of Saffron” a Poem by Laurie Rosen

These are the days we wish for,
we devour them like pans of Paella––
each ingredient passionately procured.
We chop and stir, perfect the rice and peppers,
bring the peas to a surprising pop.
We inhale every moment––extract
each clam and mussel from its shell, pluck
the spicy chorizo and seared chicken, suck
every last bit of salt and smoked paprika.

We ingest each hour like the crisp-crunch
of the socarrat—scrape the day bare
till there is nothing left
but to close our eyes and rest
before doing it all again
with fiery attention––
before it all turns to ///mush.

Laurie Rosen is a lifelong New Englander. Her poetry has appeared in Peregrine, Gyroscope Review, Zig Zag Lit Mag, New Verse News, Oddball Magazine, The Inquisitive Eater: a journal of The New School, One Art, Please See Me and elsewhere. Laurie won first place in poetry at the 2023 Marblehead, MA Festival of the Arts.