The diner off the exit
of the highway
in Rhode Island
serves home cooking,
and he feeds me there.
Broke, alone, scared —
“Eat,” he tells me,
and nods for the waitress
to refill my glass of milk.
• • •
He arrives as rescue remedy —
parents, divorce, drama —
packs my things
in a small suitcase,
puts on my coat for the snow.
Seats me at dinner with his family —
and cherry chocolate cake —
then tucks me in by the light of
a fish tank in his childhood room.
• • •
On the stove, a pot boils,
and I hear the sound
of making things —
a family recipe for
chicken and dumplings.
A family recipe for
recovery from
incisions in my belly.
She, my gift of comfort.
• • •
WORDS: ©2013, Jen Payne
IMAGE: Meal Variation – Eatenby Roy Lichtenstein, Daniel Spoerri, 1964.
THIS IS WONDERFUL!!!!!
Well, thank you for letting me talk it out the other day. I’ve been DYING to write this one ever since!
well worth waiting for… comfort food for the soul (book idea? already taken…)
Thanks! Maybe part of memoir – does it HAVE to be all essays? Hmmmm.
How exciting — a memoir can be a collage — or anything else you damn well want it to be.
I was thinking that exact thing – why NOT include this in a collection of memoir pieces!