Vassar Review

ALT Text of “Teething Biscuits” by B. Tyler Lee (whole poem at link on p. 46—won’t fit in alt text.) TEETHING BISCUITS Ingredients: 1 egg yolk 1. Sift: In the beginning, there was your name, sounds planted before you were egg or seed, derivation before germ—an ouroboros of origin. 1⁄4 c. mashed roasted sweet potato 2. Blend: Your birth mother called you Dawn, a name which requires no explication: You arrived. You glowed, whole, warm yam nestled in the daffodils. 1 tsp. baking powder 1⁄4 c. unsalted butter 3. Cut: Don’t let them fool you—once the earth is salted, it cannot be undone. The ground remains fouled. A name, though, may be ungiven: The milkman delivers butter to the wrong house; a baby blows like powder across the city. 1⁄4 c. unsweetened plant milk 4.Whisk: My name in translation—house of poverty, house of affliction. House of God, house of figs. But always, I am house. When you place your hands inside me, you are home: this latitude where I secure your mouth, the sweetness