Afloat on Flanpond by Carol A. Stephen and JC Sulzenko (SPICES & SEASONINGS Series)

Afloat on Flanpond
by Carol A. Stephen and JC Sulzenko

(After Flanpond by Will Cotton, oil on linen, 2002)

In a dark and winding rivulet of syrup,
small flan islands float downstream, past
snowy banks of meringue. Only slivers of almond
impede their procession, for all the world like ice floes.

Or lilies in Monet’s garden, revisited by a sinner who loves to bake
with sugar, eggs, cream, and those almonds, ground now to flour
softness and beaten into stiff peaks. He cannot resist. The current
catches his appetite and pulls him toward pleasure on a silver spoon.

When the islands reach the bridge of almonds where it spans
the syrup flow, he strikes his first blow, spooning
into the ladyfingers, swirling deep into caramel pools, drizzles
a stream of dark sweetness over it all, ending with a garnish
of soft white crowns scooped from the meringue. He hesitates.

Eyes closed, he breathes in the promise of a sugar high. Then
he slides the custard between his lips, its layers of ambrosia
so like a caress, a first kiss that deepens to engage his tongue. Creams
and flavours mix in his mouth. He moans for their smooth softness,
the honeyed moment his alone to savour and consume.

PAINTING: Flanpond © by Will Cotton (oil on linen, 2002).

NOTE FROM THE AUTHORS: Since 2013, we have embraced writing poetry together. “Afloat on Flanpond” appears in our first full collection of ekphrastic, collaborative poems, Breath of Sky and Water, which seeks a publisher. ¶ As poets, we acknowledge that co-creating a body of work which has both coherence and individuality, where each poet’s voice has place but not dominance, can feel at times like a tug-of war, at others a smooth and easy flow. Adding to the challenge is the third “voice,” that of the artist of the original work, to which each poet brings her own, individual impressions to bear. ¶ To create this poem and the poems in Breath of Sky and Water, we took turns selecting the work of art and then writing the opening line or lines, employing a variety of structures including alternating lines, couplets, or triplets, as well as alternating quatrains. We deliberately omit any attribution as to the provenance of each line or lines, so that the reader can enjoy each work seamlessly.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Carol A. Stephen‘s poetry appears in Poetry Is Dead, Wintergreen Studios chapbooks (Sound Me When I’m Done and Teasing the Tongue, both edited by Lorna Crozier), and in anthologies from Kind of a Hurricane Press, and in Fire and Sky, an anthology for the recovery from the Ft. McMurray fire. Carol won third prize in the CAA National Capital Writing Contest and was featured in Tree’s Hot Ottawa Voices. She served on the board for Canadian Authors Association-NCR and co-directed Ottawa’s Tree Reading Series. She’s a poetry selector for Bywords.ca.  Carol has published five chapbooks of poetry. In 2019, her nonfiction book, Winning the Lottery, Surviving Clostridium Difficile, was published by Crowe Creations.ca. Her first full collection of poetry, What I Carry with Me, was released by Friesen Press in December, 2022.

JC Sulzenko’s poetry has won awards and appeared in anthologies and journals in print and online, either under her own name or as A. Garnett Weiss. Her cento won this year’s Wind & Water Writing Contest. Her work appears in 2023 Anthologies from Wild Librarian Press, Yellow Brick Road Publishing, and Simple Simons Press. Aeolus House released Bricolage: A Gathering of Centos, a finalist for the 2022 Fred Kerner Award from the Canadian Authors Association. Point Petre Publishing issued South Shore Suite…POEMS in 2017. The author of books for children and families as well as a play about dementia, she has co-authored two chapbooks with Carol A. Stephen. The Ottawa International Writers Festival, the Ottawa Public Library, County Arts, and many school boards and Alzheimer societies, among others, have hosted her workshops. She selects for the online journal Bywords.ca and serves on the Board of the Ontario Poetry Society. Founder and curator of “Poetry Quarter” in the Glebe Report (2015-2023.), she is a full member of the League of Canadian Poets. Visit her at jcsulzenko.com.

ABOUT THE ARTIST: Will Cotton, born in 1965, is an American painter whose work primarily features landscapes composed of sweets, often inhabited by human subjects. He lives and works in New York City. Learn more at willcotton.com.