Jenny Ward Angyal

Bread of Life

I arrange an armful of lilacs at the foot of my mother’s bed. She squints at them and asks ‘What are those gray things?’ Macular degeneration has stolen her color vision. But, ah, the scent! The scent of springtime, of childhood, and of home. I bring the lilacs close enough for her to smell, but she pushes them away. I help her transfer to her wheelchair and take her down the hall to the dining room. She pokes at her napkin with a fork and says, ‘Now, don’t let me eat anything inedible.’ Hastily, I remove the plastic wrap from her dinner roll. 

the belly 
of a sea turtle stuffed
with styrofoam . . .
such strange fruits we offer
to our mother of mothers

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About the Author

Jenny Ward Angyal’s tanka have appeared widely in journals and in her collection, moonlight on water (2016). She is tanka editor of Under the Basho.