Bread Philosophy

By Ava Qi

Posted on June 1, 2023

Cover Image Title: Baked Goods

Cover Image by: Linaarika Das

Classification: Photography

Specifications: Digital, ‪1,284 x 1,271‬

Year: 2022

You grew up with a heavy hand

Solid rock tools beat the rough through

Until smooth you are

Stars for eyes you still rise

Only to be smacked and turned

Upside and down, deflated

But this shape will not last

Beats and bruises won’t stop you

Because you are more than

Blind to sides of up down, left, right

Breathe, inhale, air swells inside

Being and believing, you return

Bouncing round out of boundaries

Because you

You spring back

You are elastic

Because you

You are bread.

water, flour, yeast

mind, body soul

Descriptions:

It was my first attempt at making bread that made me not a baker but a philosopher. I was glued to a pendulum of uncertainty; like a snake eating itself, the dough would be spry and smelly, shrivel after a few folds, then bounce back up in an hour, shrivel after a few folds, and repeat… I won’t go into the details of the journey to save us both from the pain.

While the consumers of this entity, that being my mom and me, agreed that it resembled a wooden doorstopper, I was not disheartened. The psychological torment part of baking shaped me into a stoic - to be comfortable with the uncertainty and blinded from any expectations for what it could be.

[ * The End * ]

[Writing Editor: J.Y.]