Bay Leaves

I watched Mommy

Cook

Though I cooked

With Grandmother

With Grandmother I learned

To pluck chickens

Peel carrots

Turn chittlins inside out

Scrub pig feet

With Mommy I watched

leftovers for stew

Or vegetable soup

Great northern beans

Mixed collards turnips and mustard greens

Garlic cloves Bay Leaves

Very beautifully green

Stiff   so fresh

With just a pinch of salt

Not everything together

All the time but all the time

Keeping everything

I make my own

Frontier soup in a crock pot

I make my own ice cream with a pinch of salt

And everything else

With garlic

But fresh Bay Leaves

Are only for very special

Ox Tails