April 2020
Bio Note: I can’t think straight, make a sentence, let alone make sense of the world,
without a pen in my hand and a notebook before me. A Lamy fountain pen and an unlined Rhodia pad
with its inviting orange cover is what I prefer, but in a pinch a napkin and a crayon will do.
Next to my family, my workshop, a few friends, my dog, it’s poetry that I love best.
Nabisco Original Saltine
Working class cousin
of a crouton, I am crushing
you between my palms into a bowl
of Campbell’s Tomato Soup.
Sometimes I spread you with butter
or P & J, or make four tiny
sandwiches with a quartered slice
of American yellow cheese.
Cracker I once eschewed
for fancier crackers, I take you back.
You are trusty like old love,
the only cracker, when washed down
with Coke, able to soothe my queasy belly.
My grandpa broke a sleeve-full
into a bowl, topped the crumbles
with whole milk, sometimes
on summer nights, for supper.
Originally published in Gravity: New & Selected Poems. Tebot Bach, 2018
©2020 Donna Hilbert
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It is very important. -JL