February 2008 - Landrum

The Centrifugal Eye's Archives

February 2008 - Landrum

"First Snow"

Donna Palmer - 2008

No one makes it anymore. We took
a bowl of new snow white as a lamb
inside to the kitchen and we made snowcream.
My mother poured a shiny wedge-pierced can
of Milnot into it. The white turned tan;
then sugar and vanilla; mix and taste
the gift from winter sky.

It was the breath of outdoors, of the swirl
and settling of the snow. We sat and ate
in the house my parents kept too hot, the scent
of orchids in our noses and the sweet
and tingle of cold upon our tongues:
rare treat — winter extracted from the clouds
that lay their quiet over our back yard.

It wasn't long until Mother said
we had to stop: nuclear fallout in the snow.
It wasn't safe to eat it anymore.
"Blame Khrushchev," was her quip, and we were quiet.
The flame of the atomic bomb had come
to melt away one more assurance we
were safe and would live till we were old.

Arts & Crafts Menu Border - Ca. 1910

David W. Landrum teaches Literature and Creative Writing at a small college in Michigan. His poems have appeared in The Barefoot Muse, Shit Creek Review, Evansville Review and many other journals. He is editor of the on-line journal Lucid Rhythms.

Contact David
Lucid Rhythms

How to Measure Accurately
A Cupful:
"A cupful means all the cup will hold; the cup is filled with a tablespoon heaping full, then leveled with a knife. Great care must be taken not to shake the cup when measuring flour or sugar, as more may be added than required in the recipe. All dry ingredients are tossed lightly into the cup, then leveled with a knife." ~from New Dinners, ca. 1910.
Elizabeth O. Hiller

Snow Pudding
"Soak 1 tbsp. granulated gelatine in 1/4 cup cold water, dissolve in 1 cup boiling water, add 1 cup sugar, 3 tbsps. orange juice and 1 tbsp. lemon juice. Strain, and set in a cool place, stirring occasionally; when quite thick, beat with a wire whisk until frothy; then fold in the stiffly beaten whites 3 eggs. Continue beating until stiff enough to keep its shape. Turn into individual moulds; chill. Unmould on a glass platter and pour around cold boiled custard."