Scents In The Morning Dark

Coffee burbling through the filter,
prune juice warmed in the microwave,
red grapefruit sliced open and squeezed.
Sourdough starter bubbles in a Pyrex bowl.
In the crock-pot, fifteen-bean mix slow cooks.

I chop carrots, celery, onions for the soup
I’ll pressure cook and pressure can
while dough rises in round loaves,
for a dinner that matches photographs

in cookbooks spread out on oak tables,
each with farm or baking in the title.
Color pictures depict baskets of bread,
lattice crusts on pies, homemade bagels,
pretzels, banana muffins, and preserves.

A festival of grains adds sweetness
to simple self-reliance and true home.
Inhaling the mix of fragrances, I consider
the effort of a Christmas cookie tree
hung with iced stars and hearts.