for Mama, Mother, and Aunts Carolyn and Jealone
They are gathered bustling
between stove, sink, fridge,
press and curl neatly wrapped or wigs
primly pinned in place,
girdles and garters beneath dresses,
always dresses that they must pull
over their heads, never step into
(like the men and their pants),
their colorful aprons tied securely
about their cinched waists and
pearls pressed to lobes and collar bones.
They are shooing the children, the men
out the flapping screen door with the flies.
This space is church, lab, hospice of fallen
dreams between the canning and kneading,
washing and carving, mixing and molding
and serving, always serving on platters −
sometimes china, sometimes silver, more times wood,
serving their fathers, husbands, brothers, children,
neighbors, the indigent, serving always.
This kitchen is coven
beholden of secrets and silence,
craving and conjure, talk and tales,
and laughter, so much laughter
bursting from girdled desires.
Tamara J. Madison
Tamara J. Madison is a writer, poet, and editor with work published and produced on various platforms. She has presented on the TEDx platform and is an MFA graduate of New England College and Anaphora Arts Fellow. Her recent poetry collection is Threed, This Road Not Damascus (Trio House Press).
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