By Sheryl L. Nelms

I always gathered
spring greens
with Gram

down by Mission Creek

we would climb
those steep banks
picking
dock
dandelion
lamb’s quarter
sheep sorrel
poke weed
and nettles

using knowledge
handed down
from mother to daughterfrom England to Ireland

now with Gram dead
and mother who got too sophisticated
become uncertain
can’t quite remember

how many times do I boil the poke
and was it the leaves or the berries?

Published in For She is the Tree of Life: Grandmothers through the eyes of Women Writers.