swirls of brown sugar, lumpy soup,
golden pools of butter.
no, you say, no!
not this!
the fireside, the cold walk to school.
have you got everything?
just gimme a granola bar.
the warm, sweet glue.
spooning it up. raisins.
sticky spoon, residue of gum
in the blue bowl.
look, not even the cat will eat it.
but I want you to swallow it all down,
my round window, the bed
plumped up, the afghan with green diamonds,
father at the gate,
Betty and Peter waiting
at the end of the gravel walk.
you used to eat this stuff,
were you poor?
to swallow the taste
of sweet melted cardboard,
I will give you my silver spoon
with the rolled handle.
a whiff of kerosene.
are you ready now?
it’s time to go.
I am an ancient poet who taught at TAMU for 47 years, am now Professor Emerita. And I have done volunteer work in a library.