Sturdy as potatoes

by Jessi Fuller Fields

I'm-wrong-about-this threatens to drop
down dreadful-sincere
but here's what I know—

the smell of roast beef stoppers me
and the pressure builds
shooting me back

to a table set for six on a Sunday
father at the head
God on his lips

our hands join in blessings
for the feast of
meat and potatoes.

Ten years of early mornings
in the hardened pew
hundreds of hours

spent head-bowed and hushed
while the pulpit purred
with edifying reproof

and after that always the same
our private liturgy
left on low to tender

to melt into the shreds I despised
yet was obliged to finish
no picky eaters in our house

just churning bellies filled with prayer.

Reconstructed Attic Figure

by Peter Scacco

Jessi Fuller Fields is a poet and writer based in Sao Paulo Brazil. Her work deals with breaking silences and exploring generational traumas. Fields completed an MFA at Queens University of Charlotte in 2020. Her poems have appeared in QA, Typehouse Literary Magazine, and 8 Poems.

Peter L. Scacco began making woodcut prints when he was sixteen years old. His artwork has been featured in numerous print and online journals. Mr. Scacco also is the author of seven books of poetry and a translation of Théophile Gautier’s The Salon of 1850-51. Mr. Scacco has lived and worked in New York, Paris, Tokyo, Brussels, and cities throughout the USA. Since 1995 he has made his home in Austin, Texas. Further examples of his art can be seen at www.scaccowoodcuts.com.