The Poetry Sisters put out a challenge that fits well with this Thanksgiving season, a recipe poem. Thanks for the challenge Laura, Tanita, Mary Lee, Liz, Kelly, Tricia, Sara, and Andi! Find more of these poems tagged with #PoetryPals.
A Recipe for Dressing and Love (a haibun)
My mother made the dressing, the whole meal actually, but especially the dressing. Only Ballard cornbread mix would do, baked in a cast iron skillet to the perfect shade of brown. Sauté the trinity–onions, celery, bell pepper–in pure, smooth butter. Mix crumbled cornbread with vegetables, a sprinkle of sage, soak in chicken broth. I used vegetable broth instead the year I was vegan, but my children vetoed the change. Nostalgia for Dot’s dressing, an original recipe. Today I ask my mom if she remembers the recipe. She doesn’t. Whether evidence of memory loss or just the passage of time, I tell her,”It’s OK.” I open my recipe book, find the handwritten sheet of paper and begin, again.
Her cornbread dressing
Margaret Simon, draft
mixed with a heart of kindness–
Recipe for love
Reflections on the Teche 
This is beautiful. I was just online looking for this post and ta da! Here it is. Your memories of Dot’s dressing in this recipe poem are as perfect as that shade of brown. I have very similar memories of my Grandmother’s dressing. And, even though I’ve given up eating meat, I make and eat the dressing every year and remember her all over again.
Loved being there, in the space and time of Dot’s cornbread. And your ending haiku wraps around the poem with such ❤️, thanks Margaret!
Beautiful! What Thanksgiving is all about. And believe it or not, I have never had cornbread stuffing! I’m going to give it a try!
This is gorgeous, Margaret. Makes me think of the 5 Love Languages or whatever the book was called that was really big around 15 years ago. And how doing things for others, especially cooking, is the way so many women show love. Cooking is sure not my love language, but you’ve captured so much in this haibun. xo
A perfect segue into your haiku segment. Just lovely altogether, Margaret. Imbued with warmth.
The emotionality of food memories and the relationships they carry are POWERFUL, and you capture that here, Margaret. I imagine you don’t need to look at the recipe, really–you just like to see your mother’s handwriting. ❤