Breaking

Breaking

Brendon Sylvester

Sleepers rise to a kettle gently whistling,
wandering in to watch butter beginning
to bubble with anticipation.

As spattering pops rouse the house
come offerings—a cartonful of eggs,
mushrooms meant for last night’s dinner—
else off to beg next door
for bacon and more company.

Soon the air is awaft with incense,
alive with mirth of piping, bursting sausage,
perilous with trapeze-leaping pancake tossage,
warm with hearthlike-crackling mushrooms,
lush with violinlike freshness
squeezed in orange juice.

Neighbors amble in to break their night-long lent,
bring coffee, berries, or only empty bellies
trembling with laughter, and all
is passing toast and topping coffee off,
and pledging our dear Lord, who made us
bodies, that he might resurrect us,
so, when we’ve rubbed our eyes from graveyard sleep,
he can call us up to come
and have His breakfast.

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Brendon Sylvester
Poet

Brendon is a poet from Los Angeles, CA. Particularly influential on him was his time in the Torrey Honors College, where the likes of Dostoevsky, Edmund Spenser, Augustine, the Anglican liturgy, and the landscape of the American National Parks had a strong effect on his writing and imagination. He enjoys backpacking, ultimate frisbee, and running, and he is teaching himself the banjo with moderate success.

Painting by Willem Bastiaan Tholen (Dutch, 1860-1931)