by Claire Scott

arrived in the mail
Recipes for Disaster
cornflakes and cabbage
pasta with prunes
roast mother with meatballs
father seared in fennel
I detest prunes and cabbage
father long dead, so it
must be mother tonight
passed out next door
snoring scotch
empty bottles clanging
under the bed, does
she think I don’t know
and why must it
be meatballs
what of roast mother
with matzo balls
mashed potatoes
melted mozzarella
perhaps mother
sautéed in mushrooms
smeared in mayonnaise
scrambled with moose brains
mascerated in the blood
of three blind mice
working my way
through alliterative
choices passing
years considering
how to cook a mother
already marinated
in alcohol
reviewing recipes
studying possibilities
staying up all night
steadfast, resolute
eyes bleared
with strain as
she snores scotch
next door and
bottles clang
the toll.

Claire Scott has published poetry in a number of literary magazines, including Trivia, Write Wing, Stepping Stones, Epiphany, Organs of Vision and Speech, Red Savina Review, Writers Tribe Review, Foliate Oak Literary Magazine, Common Threads, Poydras Review and Literary Yard. She was recently nominated for the 2014 Pushcart Prize. Claire is a Marriage and Family Therapist with a private practice in Berkeley, CA. She has two children, two children by marriage and four grandchildren. She lives with her husband in Oakland, CA.