9 January, 2017
After the doctor
went over the scan
of her bulbous
right kidney,
I carried Mom home
on a jonquil-hemmed road.
I offered her water and dealt out
seed packets
like Tarot cards.
She selected arugula sugar snap peas
and white icicle radishes.
We decided to sow them on Saturday.
We’ll save spinach
and bok choy for August, I heard myself say.
She pursed her pale lips and attempted a smile.
And we both played along and made garden plans.
Jennifer Weiss is the Executive Director of The Hope Center at Pullen and an editorial assistant for Minerva Rising Press. Her poetry appears in the North Carolina Literary Review, KAKALAK, Minerva Rising, eno Magazine and Quatrain.Fish. She was a finalist in the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival 2014- 2015 Poetry Contest and the North Carolina Literary Review 2015 James Applewhite Poetry Competition. A lawyer and former North Carolina state representative, Weiss is passionate about reading aloud to children.