Lessons - Elaine Watkins

[Lawrence Robinson]

Lessons

Hearing another elder passed
made me think of what those titans taught me.
How to make bread using handfuls
of flour, water by the teacup,
and wondering what happens when my hands grow too large
and that cup breaks?
How to feed pink and white striped pencils
into a crank-handled sharpener, write words on lined paper,
and then address an envelope to mail that letter.
How to crochet four-inch squares for a blanket, 
knit a scarf in high school colors for the ice rink.
Shop for the right thing to wear, hem it, take it in,
let it out. When to sew, when to buy.
How to grow squashes in old pantyhose legs tied up in a tree.
One let me build a fort under the backyard pines 
then drag an old Persian rug and an armchair outside.
That whole summer I had a secret place to read.
How to love books and the piano and singing.
How to play chess. How to lose.

I thought of what I've tried to pass on.
The rhythm of jumping waves. The joy of silence on a forest hike.
Listening to songs with words that tell a story.
How to pitch a tent, name the plants, call back to the birds.
How to stand for two hours chopping and cleaning the garlic
I planted in February, trusting the day of harvest would come.
How to dream forward to the soups, stews, casseroles
that will feed the people I love with the food I grew.
How to lay down the knife and lean back against the person 
who loves me when he folds me in his arms 
while I stand at the kitchen window thinking
of writing a poem about what I've learned.

	- Elaine Watkins
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