{"id":131,"date":"2026-01-11T20:26:58","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T20:26:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/?p=131"},"modified":"2026-01-11T20:33:01","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T20:33:01","slug":"buttermilk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/?p=131","title":{"rendered":"Buttermilk"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Glug, glug slosh
Viscous buttermilk slides out 
From its jug
To drape into the confines of a temporary vessel,
Rendering transparent Pyrex opaque. 

Into the measuring cup goes 
Two eggs, swirled into homogeneity with a slim whisk,
A covetous dose of vanilla bean paste and
What remains of the melted butter --
That which did not explode and coat the 
Interior of the sighing microwave. 

Whirling this concoction to a 
Golden creamy slurry
Now pour, drip, splat
Into a concave field of flour
Leavening agents, and
Rosy mineral
Carved from the Himalayas.

Disparate substances 
Converge to be of purpose.

Commence, the catalyst:
Baking soda hisses at contact with bright liquid
Eggs moisturize ground grains
Butter percolates throughout.

A toasty landing strip
In the form of countertop griddle
Receives heady clouds of batter which 
Hydroplane atop 
Sizzling streaks of grapeseed oil.

Science retires and faith enters:
Will the pasty globs rise into meltaway miracles?
Where are the bubbles - divine proof of progress? 

Slowly, seams of golden butter
Seap from the surface.

A watched pot resists boiling;
A monitored pancake evades firming.

With no hurry, a first bubble
An ambivalent explorer, crests and bursts forth.
Then, millenia later, a second orb pops.

A troop of beige rounds now crisp at the edges;
Once slick tops grow matte and spongy.

Belief restored; the chef breathes.

Supple silicone slides deep
Under the hidden bottoms of each mound.
 
Further trust is summoned:
Will this flip or flounder?

Hypothesis tested: 
First contender executes a wobbly one-eighty.
Success! 
Now, another, then a third.

The black landscape fills with gold and sepia discs
With craggly circumferi and pock-marked crusts,
Yet tender, yielding to a spatula overhead.

Caught unaware by the arrival much prayed for,
Still surprising after decades of incantations and practice,
The cook cries out:
Breakfast! Run! 

And there, upon plates found just in time, 
Cakes escape scorching by milliseconds
Landing plumply and pliable
On outstretched porcelain.

A pat - okay three
Skate across pillowy piles.
Burnished treacle pirouettes 
From its poised spoon.

And now - an offer of grace
A small blessing, this feast
In the calm space of a 
Quiet Sunday.

My center will not hold;
Soon I too will be a bubble, traveling up
Emerging into a noisy world.

Until then, the holy trinity
Pancakes Syrup Butter
Cloak me in safety and peace.
Amen and blessed be.








<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“Buttermilk,” a prayerful scientific experiment. Poem 011 in a series of 365 poems written by Diana Ludwick in 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2026-poetry-challenge","category-poems"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=131"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":142,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131\/revisions\/142"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}