Life Sentence

Faint echo       steel bowl

 

whisking spoon dancing

 

imbedded in my subconscious.

 

aroma of freshly baked cakes

 

bursts out  door

 

fills the air of my Y zone.

 

It’s March 2

all cross Pueblo, CO’s Y zone https://www.google.com/maps/place/Pueblo,+CO/@38.2672454,-104.5908685,12z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x8713a2f3071bb165:0xa82d6ba368c7b82e

 

 

people know, there is a celebration

 

bright blue, red, and yellow frosted cake

 

causes them to look twice

 

Aunt Tessie’s blue stained fingertips,

 

exhausted, sparkling eyes, and  smile

 

mean one thing to me, love.

 

 

Up and down the stairs

You (mom) carried us like monkeys

me in the front

brother in  back

you always protecting us

dreaming of Teddy Ruckspin   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teddy_Ruxpin

we dreamed of you

coming home to tuck us in

as we drift off to sleep

we hear your voice, in our subconscious

“remember where you come from twins.”

 

Crisp, golden brown crust

engulfs the bottom of the pan

individual rice kernels

coming together

to form

what has become an Iranian delicacy

We called it burkin

grandma’s way of expressing love

for her twin grandsons

who do not speak her language.

 

In the kitchen of my parent’s home

little brown and white rice kernels

came together before my eyes .

 

I was five the first time

I knew I was disabled

walking into the

happiest place on earth

I saw a man and his son

fall over like dominos

as they craned their necks

to stair

at a boy having fun

with his brother.