Iowa Writes

BOB TREMMEL
Lunch With Mary


Today, you have squash
soup, a can of sardines
and a bag of seaweed

little reddish green
leaves that taste
like dried bluegills.

It's called
"dulse"
as if it were
much, much sweeter.

I have my usual
cheese, three mozzarella
sticks, some slices of dried
apple, apricot, peach.

I tell you
about the t-shirt
I got for Christmas

Today, you have squash
soup, a can of sardines
and a bag of seaweed

little reddish green
leaves that taste
like dried bluegills.

It's called
"dulse"
as if it were
much, much sweeter.

I have my usual
cheese, three mozzarella
sticks, some slices of dried
apple, apricot, peach.

I tell you
about the t-shirt
I got for Christmas

the white one
with the illuminated
map of Trinidad
and Tobago
on the chest.

You tell me
about the leaky glass
bottomed boat, how
you all sang
"dah bucket is gone
and dah water come in"
and how you swam
to safety‚ twice‚ wearing
your flipflops and balancing
your camera bag
above the water

about the deep drumming
rain on a thousand
metal rooftops
and finally the flash
flood and the mountain
flowing through the streets.

not to mention
the Muslim bull calf
who escaped
the knife just
in the nick of time, ran
through the Bingo game
on the beach, straight
to the Hindus and his own
little slice of Nirvana.

more

About Iowa Writes

Since 2006, "Iowa Writes" has featured the work of Iowa-identified writers on The Daily Palette, and it has recently expanded its scope to include work published by Iowa journals and publishers. Curated by the staff of The Iowa Review, "Iowa Writes" features poetry, fiction, or nonfiction several times a week on the Palette. In November, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated Iowa City, Iowa, the world's third City of Literature, making the community part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. Iowa City has joined Edinburgh, Scotland and Melbourne, Australia as UNESCO Cities of Literature.

Find out more about submitting at iowawrites.org


BOB TREMMEL

Bob Tremmel grew up in Sheldon, Iowa, graduated three times from the University of Iowa, and since 1989 has been teaching in the English Department at Iowa State University. Most semesters he has lunch once a week with his friend and colleague, Mary Swander, in Mary's luxurious office suite. Bob is the author of Zen and the Practice of Teaching English and a recent book of poems, Crossing Crocker Township.

This page was first displayed
on March 23, 2006

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