Summer was like our flower necklaces

The aroma of wet, sweet grass,

Encompasses my sun kissed, chapped lips; I worry about how big my nose is as you kiss my face

The way your hair looks so perfect after the salon and the perfume smell that was created out of sass

Your best smile as we entangle our necklaces made of those little yellow flowers, around my neck and heart—-better than satin or lace

I drink in the intricate smells of the beef marinade, dressings and of your home

The way it sounds when you chop up, mix, stir, boil

The way you expertly cut the cards as they hit the table while everything was cooking—made my imagination roam

We played many games with those cards—but I remember how your smile felt when you looked at me, and how your voice was smooth like the broth in Knaidel soup and like the best Olive Oil

Maybe I let those sounds and fears in too soon

When you left me I thought those flower necklaces left me too

But I stir up those summer memories, a shuffling distortion of silky hair perfume, our Jewish family discussions with twice baked potatoes and too much candy in a glass bowl— I am too full to have room

I still ask you, Baba, when the air is warm and the sun is just right, how can I make the necklaces again—-yes, I forgot, Baba, this is true

I lift up my blood and see humanities love in those flowers, Baba, and I put hope into the very knots

You and I will bring them back, one summer breeze, the most magical chain of my childhood, the art you wrought