from Remember the Flowers
Winner (Poetry) of the 2021 Stone Soup Book Contest

All I knew of the coldwas the grocery store—the frozen food aisle wherewe shivered in our T-shirtswhile Umma piled gluten-free pizza into our cart,the cardboard covered in frost,disguising the image of promisedtomatoes that would thaw and bake in the oven,their warmth exploding in your mouthon a lazy Saturday afternoon.

We felt we were frozen, you and I, as wepassed packaged peasand hardened mango chunks.We huddled beneath our shopping bags,wore them like capes,ignoring the amused smilesof warm, sweatered customers.

We distracted our shivering mindswith images of chocolate and vanilla ice creamshining from the tops of lids,an image denying reality.We begged Umma to pick one up.The scoops seemed to smile at me.She passed right by the ice cream section—it was cold again.

Remember the Flowers was released on September 1, 2022.You can order the book at Barnes & Noble or through our Amazon store: Amazon.com/stonesoup.