WHIMSY
the madrigal, volume iii
A cardamom bun
by hannah ingeborg
is a cure for a heavy heart,
he said as he pulled out the familiar paper bag
one bite and the spice and the sweet
all that heartache
seeps out stickily between her teeth
[lick it off your fingers]
pressing her lips together she can still taste it
the remnants of what
could’ve been
should’ve been
properly savoured
she lingered too long and the dough congeals
the orange glaze
glues her words to the roof of her mouth
she pushes her tongue against her teeth instead to
dislodge a stubborn black seed
swallows the lump that has grown in her throat
washes it down with long-since-gone-cold coffee
before she twists her sticky lips in his direction and grins –
thank you. that did the trick.
Hannah Ingeborg is an Irish/Danish writer, you can find her on twitter @hannah_ingeborg. After her languages degree saw her spend her days in the library mostly nose-deep in French poetry, she decided to try to write some of her own. Nowadays, she spends her time grappling with the question ‘where is home?’ and hoping one day she’ll wake up and realise she’s there.