Cake

By Olivia Mettler

Olivia is currently sophomore at Minnesota State University, Mankato and is majoring in Creative Writing with a minor in Teaching ESL. When she isn't mindlessly wondering outside she is spending time with her hamster, her friends or catching up on homework.

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I don’t know how to bake a cake

From scratch. I don’t know how much flour

Or sugar to use, or what to set the oven at.

In fact, I don’t even know how to mix batter

‘Fraid I’d splatter

Like a child, gleeful

Spatula in hand.

I don’t know how to bake a pie.

I don’t know why I’d need to try. Pies

Are for grandmas to raise in their ovens

As they raise children in their bosoms, and I don’t know

How to care for a child. So, how

Can I delicately press crust, fork in hand.

The circumference of a pie can be measured,

But I don’t know what it is, or how

To find it.

Just like I don’t know how to find

The lost child, once my own.

I don’t know how to find a child

Long since grown

Of the need for cake and pies,

And maybe that’s the reason why, I don’t know

How to bake. I don’t know how

To love you, and maybe

That’s why you can bake on your own.

I don’t know, how much time

Has passed between mother and daughter.

But, without a father, I don’t know

How to raise

A cake, or you.

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Interview With The Author

1. What inspired the creation of your piece?
   A due date is what inspired this particular piece because it was written for a class, and actually written off a prompt to write a poem about something you don't know how to do.

2. How did you start writing?
   I've always enjoyed writing and making up stories ever since I was young, but I got really into writing when I took a college composition class in eleventh grade.

3. Why do you write?
   I write because it makes me feel full, and at peace. I always feel happy when I write something that I can be proud of, and I love writing because every person who reads what you write finds something different to connect to their life within what you have created, so you can touch so many people through writing in that way.

4. If asked to define your work in three words, what would those words be?
   If I really had to choose probably natural, simplistic, and at times unsettling.

5. Is there anything you would like those who view your piece to know?
   There isn't anything in particular I'd want people to know except to just wish them to find a bit of beauty within it and that hopefully they can enjoy it.

Editor’s Note

““Cake” is the type of poem you find yourself diving into! Parental relationships are complicated, and this poem takes the time to illustrate a parent’s uneasiness about the relationship they have with their child.”