Recipe

By Kristin Berger

At the dark edge of dusk,
the answering machine blinks.
Mom has called to thank me
for the card and the article on jam-making.
She tells the machine:

I remember my grandmother making pickles.
Those little crisp cucumbers.
She and Aunt Julie and my mother
would gather in the yellow kitchen.
I would watch them
stuff dill into the jars.
Grandma would throw in a pepper, or two,
for a little spice.

I rewind the tape, erase the message.
Prepare for the next incoming call.
Remember to write this down.
Keep the line clear for anything else
my mother needs me
to preserve.

Kristin Berger is a mother, wife, and gardener living in Portland, and author of “For the Willing” (Finishing Line Press, 2008), a chapbook of poems and nominee for the 2009 Oregon Book Award. Read more of her poems and essays at www.kristinberger.wordpress.com.