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# Cake
- URL: https://dianaludwick.com/cake/
- Published: 2026-03-26T14:28:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T20:10:19.000Z
- Description: “Cake,” an homage to creating in the chaos, and seeking community in a loneliness epidemic. Written March 26, poem 085 in a series of 365 poems written by Diana Ludwick in 2026. Photo, "Carrot Cake Batter," by Diana Ludwick (c) 2026.
- Author: Diana Ludwick
- Tags: 2026 Poetry Challenge, Homage, Poems, Baking, Batter, Cake, Community, Creating, Gratitude, grief, Hope, March, Spring, Women, #Migrated-1792872215677, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-10-24 20:03

Amidst the ever-fanned  
flames of our world,  
I forge my own glow,   
craft my own garden.  
  
I choose community,   
seek comfort  
and connection  
and drench myself in color.  
  
I rinse and scrub and   
peel and shred and stir.   
I fold and pour this tender batter  
in the search for a deeper peace.  
  
I bake this moist carrot cake  
fertile with the promise   
of a gentle new dawn  
where all mothers are valued  
and all children wake up.  
  
I share my humble cake  
baked with intention,  
with my circle of clarity:  
my women, by relation and choice.  
  
This evening, we share   
a sacred calm as we  
spill gratitude and grief.  
Because we carry both, always.  
  
Our proudest wins  
and what weighs us down,  
these thoughts swirl in concert.  
The hard and the holy.  
  
We cry and laugh  
and nod and clap.  
  
As we speak, our tongues  
tingle with the sweetness   
of grated ginger, spiced honey.   
  
These fragrant aromas  
help us offset   
life's bitter walnuts.  
  
And at the end of the night  
we each venture home  
feeling a little bit lighter,  
fueled with refreshed ambition.