Burnt Toast + Jam

Burnt toast is the char on a life, the scorched places, the damage no one escapes. We spend years hiding the burnt side and serving only the golden.

Jam is sweetness that survived, fruit held through a long winter, the red preserve of a love that lasted.

Spread one over the other and the sweetness does not pretend the char is gone. It settles into the bitter grooves, fills them, makes the scorched part edible and somehow good. To be loved is to have someone taste your burnt side and reach for the jam. In the body it tastes like being received exactly as scarred as you are.