MAGGIE SAWKINS

Celery Soup
 

I fetch the chair from the Formica table
to reach into the cupboard

take the butterfly opener
from the drawer and turn and turn
till the ragged edge lifts.

The creamy liquid plops into the pan
and I stir in a figure of eight
the way she taught me to.

I lay the tray with salt and pepper
arrange triangles of sliced white bread.

I carry it up to her bedroom
where she is propped against the pillow,
steam warms her face but she doesn’t smile
because every Friday they burn her skin
and they’ve taken her breast away.

It feels like a dream

except my footprints are still there
embedded in the blueness
of a blue kitchen chair.

Mihaela Roxana Bocicai

Maggie Sawkins
 

Supa de telina

Aduc scaunul de la masa Formica
ca sa ajung la dulap

iau deschizatorul
din sertar si invart si invart
pana ce capatul zimtat se ridica.

Lichidul cremos cade in oala
Si il amestec in forma de opt
Asa cum ea m-a invatat.

Pun in tava sare si piper
Aranjez triunghiuri din felii de paine alba.

O duc pana in dormitor
unde ea sta rezemata de perna,
aburul ii incalzeste fata dar nu zambeste
caci in fiecare vineri ii ard pielea
si i-au luat pieptul.

Pare ca e un vis

Doar ca urmele talpilor mele sunt inca acolo
Imprimate in albastrul
scaunului albastru de bucatarie.