Baked Alaska

In the sizzling summer of ’76 I fell in love,
imitating Master Blaster’s Antiguan swagger
and the icy violence of Whispering Death
in the gasholder’s shadow.

I was munching on sweet green apples,
cooling under the swaying hose,
when you enticed me to hot flesh and cold hearts
in the sweltering heat of Orange Pekoe.

I went back there last week
and found Prestige Penthouse Apartments.

I’ll never find my way to Eden Gardens now
but one unmelted dream remains –
to hunt down a baked Alaska worthy of the name.

Anas Hassan

Note: “Hot flesh and cold hearts” is a reference to a line in Matthea Harvey’s poem ‘Baked Alaska – A Theory Of’.

 If you have any comments on this poem, Anas Hassan would be pleased to hear from you.