First Place Winner, June 2002 InterBoard Poetry Competition

Poetry

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Poetry

InterBoard Poetry Competition

First Place Winner, June 2002

HOMEMADE SOUP
Judy Lewis
(Café Utne)

Often it was about salvage--
saving that little bit.
I remember my mother
weighing a turkey breastbone
in her hand, deciding
it was just enough for soup,
let's not throw it out yet.

Flawed carrots followed,
scraped and pared,
whittling away the bad parts.
Celery, potatoes,
whatever was left over.
Waste not. She smoked
her cigarette to the filter.

I apprenticed at her elbow,
watched the careful sparing
of small scraps, agreed
the taste was richer than store-bought.
It stuck to the ribs
and also to the brain,
thrift became a holy principle.

Judge Sheila Bender's comment: “I admire this poem for its craftsmanship and the way a pivotal memory is experienced both somatically and emotionally until the very weave of its influence on a life is before our eyes and hearts.”