Tomato & Lettuce
Then, everything was garnish, two kids and a house, a wife who kept thebeds made, shirts ironed, secrets hidden like duston the canned goods. What can’t be washed with vinegar—scum of the coffee pot—or set out in the sun with fresh linenmy mother swears had to be ironed and I believe menmade work for women, invented tile,starch, matrimony, and ama de casa to chop the tomatoand lettuce sometimes in bowls, often on the side as adornment. What is the relationshipbetween mother and daughter, tree and limb?The moment I say my memory is not of her sadness but of her laughter I’ve gotten it all wrong. The bright split of my birth was to a womanwho wanted me to wear my decoration— a tree cleaned of its barkafter a cool winter doesn’t forget its leaves.This poem appears in the April 2024 print edition.
Then, everything was garnish,
two kids and a house,
a wife who kept the
beds made, shirts ironed,
secrets hidden like dust
on the canned goods.
What can’t be washed
with vinegar—
scum of the coffee pot—or
set out in the sun with
fresh linen
my mother swears
had to be ironed
and I believe men
made work for women,
invented tile,
starch, matrimony,
and ama de casa
to chop the tomato
and lettuce sometimes
in bowls, often on the side
as adornment. What
is the relationship
between mother and
daughter, tree and limb?
The moment I say my
memory is not of her
sadness but of her laughter
I’ve gotten it all wrong.
The bright split of my
birth was to a woman
who wanted me
to wear my decoration—
a tree cleaned of its bark
after a cool winter doesn’t
forget its leaves.
This poem appears in the April 2024 print edition.
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