It’s a good thing I stuck to my aunt’s ratios: 
cup of sugar, cup of flour, 9x13-inch pan. 
Had I listened to my eyes, I would have filled the floor. 
It looked like such a small amount of batter when stirred 
but add heat and, oh boy, the difference. 
Nothing plumps up and stretches out ingredients 
like a little fire—rainbows of yellow and brown, 
tasted by every sense before the tongue. 
Nothing else is so potent. Not even falling in love. 
Not even the tang of sunlight on your shoulder 
waiting for you to turn around. 

Richard Nester

has an MFA from the University of Massachusetts and was twice a fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. He is the author of four books of poems, the most recent being Red Truck Bear (Kelsay, 2020). His poems have appeared in numerous magazines and journals, including Callaloo, Inlandia, Ploughshares, Qarrtsiluni, Seneca Review, Sheila-na-Gig, South Florida Poetry Journal, and The Cortland Review. His reviews of poetry have appeared in North of Oxford, and his essays on social justice, in The Catholic Agitator, a publication of the LA Catholic Worker.

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⚡ Richard Nester: Featured Author in Floyd County Moonshine (Issue 7.2, Summer 2015)