Today, I celebrate the marvelous, huge, sweet-and-sour lemony flavored, multicolored, utterly lickable lollipop that is Life.

Cakes Continue to Rise
by Rick Agran

A pancake with its burnt side down
is still burnt.
No amount of pancake syrup can hide it.

And the heel of stale white bread
is not camouflaged
inside the peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

I’ve jumped in front of the oven.
Cakes never fall
as you have always threatened.

And baloney is not enhanced by frying it.

Spoonfeed me a rich tapioca
of truth.
I swear, I can take it.

Help me cut my uncertainties
into littler pieces.
You’ve always been afraid I’d choke.

Give me the lollipop of life
and I promise
I will run with it in my mouth.