Traveling on Our Stomachs Leaving the excess of old-world Utrecht, all gargoyles, staggeringly high churches with their proverbial lesson in perspective, arched doorways folding into arched hallways like bellows on a monochromatic accordion, I enter the gray-gray of its New Town: Massive, hard-edged concrete slabs of cold contemporary Dutch architecture dedicated to function over form, utility over any hint of Rococo. I’m drawn to an Edward Hopper-lit café, empty save the silent server who presents a slab of creamy yellow cheese, flaky golden-dusted brioche its tenderness cradling the bright orange yolk of the freshest egg, satiny hot coffee in a white-white cup, the perfect American travel memory on a gray-gray day in Utrecht.
About the Author: Diana Rosen is a poet, flash writer, and essayist with work in online and print journals in the U.S., the U.K., Australia, Canada, and India. Her first book of flash and poetry, “High Stakes & Expectations,” was released in spring 2022 from thetinypublisher.com Diana lives in Los Angeles where she writes website content on food and beverage. To read more of her work, please visit www.authory.com/dianarosen
Image Credit: Édouard Manet “The Brioche” (1870) Public domain image courtesy of Artvee
As It Ought To Be 