my mother spreads

vanilla cream cheese

over buttery cookie dough

as I slice kiwis & berries

dollop of marmalade

cooling & sweet

against summer heat

but as I take a slice

 

I taste my brother’s

absence, his laughter

echoes in my chest

instead of vanilla

I taste sunscreen

from lazy pool days &

I wonder what he makes

with his children now

I wonder if he has recipes

he’ll pass down, if he ever

longs for fruit pizza

and how close

we once were