Savory
for my daughter
Late Sunday afternoon.
I stir up shredded Colby,
mayo, cream cheese,
peppers from a small jar.
Red flecks stipple
smooth orange paste.
In a few weeks, you’ll stuff
your room into a heap of crates,
boxes, luggage, then close
the door behind you, back
your van down the drive,
wave as you pull away.
For now, you glide into the kitchen,
strum a lick of Taylor Swift,
fix your eyes on my spoon
scraping the bowl. Expecting
sweet dough, you lean in
for a pinch. We laugh long
riffs, waists bent,
blot our salty faces,
this joy that hollows us,
cheddar-sharp, this slow parting.
Annette Sisson’s poems appear in Valparaiso PR, Birmingham PR, and many others. Her second book Winter Sharp with Apples is forthcoming 11/2024 (Terrapin Books), her first published 5/2022 (Glass Lyre). Many poems have placed in contests and received nominations for The Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net.