Alphabet Stew

Laura Schaffer

A sound of rain and simmering Black-eyed peas becomes one, Complete thing. There’s no sense Distinguishing, and you get the Feeling the whole cabin is a kind of Gumbo pot with the earthyHumus smell, the bite, the salt-fat Instance, all of it, seasoning you. This Jumble of nibbling rain or the dilating Kitchen leaves bubbles beading on your Limbs when you stand up to swim, Nosing your way back to the bathroom or Making time for another load of laundry. Outside, with a hiss like adding something to the Pan, a car drives by, and you move to the window, Quiet eddying in aftercurrents. A flicker of leaves. Rich broth swirls around the sapling Sassafras grown up through rhododendron, and Tomorrow’s ground is already in process Under its roots. Beneath your feet, meanwhile, and Varnished in footfalls summering for years, this Wormy chestnut coils and hitches an Exact record of rain and a nutrient soup You never felt, except in its imprint. Zest of a body’s patient memory.