Hopefully, you’ve been reading the wonderful work in the special food issue here at The Lyon Review. Have you read Aileen Suzara’s How to Cook an Aching Heart with this gem? :

Cooking with an aching heart is about staying present. ….To cook with an aching heart is to fearlessly peel roots and reveal what’s really under the skin. It is to dice onions that make you cry, squeeze lemons despite their wince, and balance out sweetness with salty, bitter and sour.

Or, have you read Stew, a poem by Sandra Kohler, ’61 ? Don’t miss any of these fine pieces:

• Cheese Love by Iliana Paul ‘11
• Luxury by Holly Hughes ’75
• Stew, a poem by Sandra Kohler ’61
• Adventures in Blackberry Picking by Kemp Minifie ’75
• Are Recipes Inviolable? by Nancy Root Miller ’79
• About Lime Jell-O by Sandi Sonnenfeld ’85
• The Politics of Food by Hannah Wallace ’95
• How to Cook an Aching Heart by Aileen Suzara ’06
• Hot Comfort by Karen Berman ’78

And, after you’ve read and considered those thought-provoking works from MHC alumnae, you might be interested in taking a look at a post that’s been bouncing around on the web this week. I have to confess, I haven’t read all of these essays yet, but they are in my e-reading folder and I’m working my way through — they are as brilliant as touted. Please enjoy 17 Essays by Female Writers that Everyone Should Read

If you get a chance as you’re reading the Food issue, please comment on pieces that resonate for you. You can surely make a writer’s heart sing.

Happy #writing.