A Gavitt

March 31, 2016 Jason Brown

- for Primrose and John Gallimore

A visit home
too short as always but
at the last I rested my spirit
in your house
two days and one night
of heart’s stillness
Fed by more than food
I was;
and a thirst greater than the body’s
received a few hours’ rain

Because you knew my mother
and my father
welcomed them
made their lives rich
and have done the same for me
I love you as the limbs of
my family
I grieve the speed of my appearances
and disappearances and
mourn the long years and oceans in between

It is my longing to come again
that we may be to each other
a memory of light or of
a scent of baking—
something remembered with the heart, stored
at the cellular level
not separable even by
the miles in their thousands
or time too long away.

A Gavitt currently calls 60202 home.

Gavitt is known to illustrate and narrate worlds both familiar and fantastic.

Find more from A Gavitt at annegavitt.com.

:: Chai // S Kibler

March 31, 2016 Jason Brown

Several years ago the milk tea
(always with sugar)
grew close to my heart.
I didn't think I was someone
who drank milk or dairy beverages
until I fell in love with chai.

It happened without me even knowing it-
that is, I didn't think twice about the whole matter
until I began craving it
while at home.

On Saturday or Sunday afternoons,
in between eventful mornings and full evenings,
I would rest at home. And that's when the cravings hit.
Soon, chai became the beverage that epitomizes
a lazy, intentional, restful afternoon.
What I find interesting, however,
is that this symbolism exists
bound by time and place.

The potential of chai
reaches its fullest peak
at home,
on a weekend afternoon.

While my body physically calls for the fatty goodness
of the whole milk brought to a boil, combined with the sweetness and delicacy
of sugar and orange pekoe tea,
it also craves the rhythms and stability
found in reliable patters brought to fruition
in their parameters of time and place.