EXCHANGE
They had to raise their voices to be heard
Above the hoarsely caroling ghetto box
Exuding Christmas atmosphere for senior
Citizens. The food was their concern:
Roast beef with cheese on buttered bread would not
Have met with Doctor Pritikin’s approval.
They recollected chickens fed on grain,
Scalded in iron sinks of farmhouse kitchens.
She told of pitting dates and cracking walnuts
With her sister after school and slicing
Maraschino cherries for the cornflake-
Dusted cookies known as cherry winks.
He responded with his memories
Of fingers stained by black walnut shells
And pricked by nutpicks prying out the smoky
Bits his mother folded into clouds
Of sugary egg whites called divinity fudge
That melted on the tongue like snow in summer.
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