Day 96. Her sourdough starter is now named Gerald. He lives in a chipped ceramic pot next to the kitchen window and has more emotional consistency than most of her ex-boyfriends. She feeds him twice a day and talks to him about politics, bad jazz, and the peculiar quiet of quarantine when everyone else is still trying to be productive. Gerald just bubbles.

even yeast 
gets lonely 
quieter when she skips 
a feeding—so she hums 
like a fool into the jar 

Her therapist suggests “digital boundaries.” So, she deletes all the apps on her phone and handwrites a letter labeled “To Whom It May Concern,” folds it neatly, and stores it in the freezer. The letter simply says: “Remember this: Gerald overflows.”

flour 
on her cheek 
as if she’s kissed someone 
who left behind 
his ghost in the dough 

—Inspired by an article about how common it has become for people to name their sourdough starters. Author chose the name “Gerald” for this tiny tale after Gerald Cooper, the farmhand who mumbles so badly no one can understand him, in the British TV documentary series Clarkson’s Farm. *

Jeffrey L. Buller

is the author of numerous novels, poems, short stories, and works of nonfiction. A former university dean and lifelong educator, he lives in North Carolina, where he divides his time between writing, speaking engagements, and misinterpreting classical music.