cleothedog

 
 
 
grandmother clock

wafts of onion & celery & chicken stock
brewing
roll in

there is nothing
to a person
than their smells of family cooking

dried cherries & walnuts soaking
per grandma’s recipe
and who taught her?

it is too much to remember
and to say

i help mom set the table
the rolls’ bottoms are perfectly burned

there’s a spare chair
where the grandmother clock used to be

–

we shout at each other to come to the table
we shout at each other to pass the food around
      Craig gets impatient & stands
      to intercept the platter

maybe it was more pacified when half of us were kids
and maybe if there are kids one day here again it will be

but if they ask me who taught mom i’ll say
it was grandma
and if they ask me what came before the stars
i’ll say the moon
and if they ask me what came before the moon
i’ll say
more stars
      and if they think that’s a trick
i’ll ask them
to come up with a better answer