The Hot Oven

After Langston Hughes’ “Frosting”

Liberation
is a hot oven
ready to make
cake—
And I have learned
the art,
the power to
bake.

 

 

Ralvell Rogers II is an ambitious storyteller from Kansas City, Missouri, who focuses on reflective and experimental poetry. His writing has been published and can be found in many journals including River City Poetry, Heartland, Rigorous, Flinthills Review, and Cathexis Northwest Press. Before graduating with his BA in English, Creative Writing at Emporia State University, Rogers founded and presided over the Black Artists’ Club, and was the first student-recipient of the Presidential Award for Distinguished Service to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in 2018. Currently, Ralvell lives with his fiance in Arlington, Virginia.