Baker girl can't bake

I wanted to bake something for you
buttercake for heartbreak
banana bread for the road
or
apple pie, to kiss the crumbs off your nose

baker girl eats her woes
her kitchen slumps in half-baked prose
housing an oven
 hoarding half-burnt scones

baker girl bakes and it shows
in the tart perfume of her clothes
in singes along her elbows,
inkstains on her clothes,
in the cracks in her stove.

baker girl bakes most often before
the red leaves fall and the apple blooms a blaze
for baker girl knows to pluck it before it fades
the apple of her eye, baker girl's beloved

baker girl preserves him in mace