#LoveMadeVisible: Haunting Love, by Tammy Higgins

Haunting Love

by Tammy Higgins

Love is
The scratching of a fork
Spooling pasta
Onto a soup spoon.

Love is
The pungent burst
Of garlic squeezing
Through a press.

Love is
The soft sizzle
Of chicken cutlets
In a slick of olive oil.

Love is
The spreading, rising, crisping
Of confections wafting
Off a grandmother’s baking sheet.

Love is
The dipping and delight
Of buttered Tuscan bread
In Christmas morning lattes.

Love is
The clanking placement
Of dishes conjuring a fellowship
To gather at the table.

Love is
Whispered daily
By the ghosts in my kitchen

As I stir,
Whisk,
Simmer and stew.
As I chop,
Sauté,
Bake and taste

Their memory—
My culture—
My history
With food-stained recipe cards,
Helping me recreate
All the love
They’d ever fed me.

 

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Tammy Higgins has been a reading interventionist and writing instructor for the West York Area School District since 1993. She worked for eight years as a journalist for the York Dispatch, writing news stories, features, and a monthly column for the Food Department. She has published in Highlights for Children and Pet Boarding Magazines. She is currently writing nonfiction picture books and a middle grade novel in verse. Tammy lives in York with her husband, Rich, four children, and new granddaughter. You can connect with her on Twitter (@higswriter).