Grandmother Preserves

I told myself I'd write it down—
would keep a record of
the way she decided
blackberries balanced sugar

whether crabapples, raspberries or
pears would be a good addition.
how long to boil them together, the
trick to knowing jars were sealed.

methods crafted by mother,
aunts, etched in her visual
guide. no wordy details.
intoned instructions:         Just watch

Did her mother whisper:  Watch
as fathers, uncles, chose shovels,
picks, and rakes to counter hard-eyed hatred

Did her aunt admonish:   Watch
whether jars of jam, bushels of wheat,
sacks of flour would trick or
seal a Cossack's bloodlust

Who did she watch sailing toward
streets paved with gold; city districts
located by whether gooseberries or green
grapes graced a peddler's cart

Who looked on as she calibrated
English consonants to Yiddish vowels,
marched with unionists, dodged nightsticks,

sold peppermints, fed depression-hungry
sons and daughters; lost everyone
who had not sailed.

Blue and black berries slowly
simmer in my kitchen, sugar added—
just enough to set the fruit. Jars clean,
ready to fill, soft cloth handy to wipe lids.

between stirs I observe roil and
thickening, notice dark syrup, skim
lighter foam; monitor temperature.

notebook and pen at hand
I begin writing it all down,
imagine she is watching.

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Carla Stein’s poetry and illustrations have appeared in a wide variety of publications including Sustenance, Friday's Poems, Stonecoast Review, Pocket Lint, Sad Girl Review, Please Hear What I’m Not Saying, Lemonspouting, The Belladonna, Polar Starlight, Centipede-Cha-Cha, and The Lotus Tree Review among other publications. Her work is forthcoming in Penumbric, Sea and Cedar Magazine and Quills Canadian Poetry Magazine. She has released two poetry pamphlets, Sideways Glances of an Everyday Sailor and Shrieking from the Shore. Carla was a contributor to a renku in 2022 which has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She is an associate member of the League of Canadian Poets and the current artistic director of Wordstorm Society of the Arts. Carla makes art and writes poems from her home in Nanaimo, B.C. View her artwork at: www.roaeriestudio.com